Infection and more surgery

ouch

by Tracey_E - 2018-06-11 18:26:01

I'm so sorry you have to deal with that! But yes, that's the protocol and the safest path. You can't risk the infection going down the leads into the heart. Once the infection is cleared, you'll start all over again on the other side. 

Oh you lucky dog

by The real Patch - 2018-06-11 19:54:09

I would love to go through it again, but then it was worse than the 5 weeks I was in hospital for open heart, valve replacement, quad bypass and a sporty ICD implant.

When I had my infection it was similar. Had a replacement device, a month later the new lead for a CRT decided to go back where it came from and they did a revision  surgery. A month after that it started oozing green slimey pus and that waqs the good part. Had all three leads (2 were over 10 years old) and the shiny new generator extracted and forn 5.5 months later I sported a life vest and associated flashing black bag the size of a carry on suitcase. Then there was the infusion pump to pump assorted drugs into my heart through the carotid. Again the size of a small suitcase and finally a vacuum pump to suck pus  out of the festering slime filled diseased pocket. and you guessed it, the vacuum was the size of a small suitcase. I went to the infectious disease doctor daily to check my infection. Saw a nurse daily to change the sponges in the pocket, and saw a sadistic female doctor who scraped the hole with a cheese grater 3 times a week.

Hey don't think it's not fun. There's the frequent alarms from the life vest, warning it's about to provide a jesus jolt. And what about the nondescript black bags with flashing lights. They scare the crap out of sane people who think you are a walking bomb.

Finally they put a new device and leads in the right side and advise you not to run with scissors. You bet I'd love to do it again sometime just for grins.

Note: your results may vary

Just went through something like this...

by Kassandra - 2018-06-12 15:11:45

Sorry to hear you are having to go through this. I just got my PM on 5/21. All was going well for a week, then I woke up at 3:30 am on day 8 to the feeling of something on my chest - it was blood dripping from the incision. Could not get it to stop so went to the doctor's office. He was shocked and rushed me to the OR and went in and cleaned up the incision the sealed it up with a compression pack and sent me home with double antibiotics and orders to return in two days. The next afternoon I was home and went into shock. Thankfully my neighbor is a cardiac PA and my 10 yo kept her cool, called my husband, and ran straight over to neighbor for help. Rushed me to ER. Both doctors said it was an infection and they would have to remove the PM from the left and move it to the right then next morning after lab work was in. Don't remember much from that night in the hospital or the morning but went in for surgery the next morning. Woke up with PM still on the left! They went in and cleaned up the incision, found no infection, and cauterized me back together (blood would not clot so it took a couple hours). Stayed in the hospital a few days on antibiotics and in isolation. Put on another course of antibiotics for 7 days after discharge. Had my staples removed yesterday and everything is looking good. All blood cultures came back clean.

Hopefully you don't have to have it removed. I feel like my doctor jumped to the worst case and prepared us for it but when they got into surgery they realized they could salvage the original site. You certainly do not want an infection anywhere near your heart!

Best wishes and let me know how you fare.