Pacemaker wound assessment screwup bigtime

• by Revco
• 2018-02-06 04:23:07
• General Posting
• 1243 views
• 1 comments

Had a new pacemaker inplanted in one hospital (have had a fewupgrades thru same hospital never a problem) moved to another part of the country and went to have my first check up at another city hospital who specialise in pacemakers, my wound was leaking quite a bit and when i mentioned that and showed them I was told its a healing process, I rang 4 weeks later told them its not getting any better , I was told it would take a few moonts before it would heal , after another 2 months I went to an emergency centre and got a docter to check the wound , i explained what was going on and what i was told , he gave some antibotic tablets and said if  no change in 3 day contact the cardio dept as i was infected, 3 days later rang the hospital and got put thru to cardio clinic who bought up my records and I mentioned the antibotics i was given and how my leak was not getting any better, they contacted the local hospital who rang me and asked if i could come in asap to cardio ward for an assesment, 2 hrs later i went in and they admitted me there in and then , I was put on an antibiotic drip for 5 days transported by medical flight back to original hospital where an emergency operation was performed , All my leads and pacemaker removed, a temporary one was placed in my thigh which i was told would be there for at least 6 week or untill all the infection was removed from my system and then a new one would be put in on the other side of my chest , For 6 weeks i had a drip bottle attached to my body which was changed on a daily bases, once the all clear was given I was given a new pacemaker and a defibulator, 3 months on my first check I mentioned how tired i had been compared to all the other pacemakers I had in the past this was the worse i had ever felt, then they told me it was only set at 1/2 pace not one person ever mentioned that to me , I was extremely angry over that , so came time to reset it again between 3 of them discussing what the setting should be set to 30 min later i was completed all done for next months , after 3 days felt no real change so i rang the hospital that had performed all my other surgeries and mentioned how I felt , They said  when ever i could get there (8hr drive time) they would check the settings , 4 weeks later I arrived and the settings were changed to the same setting as my prievous pacemaker , what a  difference , I have not felt this great for over a year .All my future checkups will be at my original hospital pacemaker clinic even though its an 8 hr drive I know Imcan trust them. The first checkup crew have put me thru hell and nearly cost me my life, depression was something i never had experienced before or taken so many different energy pills because i was always so tired and told its a healing process.

I hope nobody ever goes through the experience that i had to go thru because of someone who would not get a second opinion from a cardiologist to check my leak that was coming from my wound even after telling them this has never happened in any of my other pacemaker operations (4). If ever in doubt always get a second opinion even if it means long distance travel

This year is going to be a fantastic year !!