Replacement surgery tomorrow

piece of cake

by Tracey_E - 2019-09-19 15:22:42

I'm on #5. The arm restrictions the first time were new leads. Unless they told you otherwise, you won't need new leads, just a generator, so no arm or weight restrictions this time. They go in the same place so most of it is scar tissue. Most of the pain the first time was from creating the pocket. If the first was a 10, replacements are 3-4. Ice often. I barely even took a tylenol after replacements and they have never slowed me down more than a few days. When I got my last one, I was home fixing my own lunch, took a nap, then answered some work emails until my sister brought dinner. I could have easily fixed dinner  but didn't see any reason to mention that to her ;o)

A week off is more than enough. You could probably get away with no time off if you wanted. 

Replacement surgery tomorrow

by Susand - 2019-09-19 15:54:59

I'm really hoping that everything goes smoothly and that I can be back to work by Tuesday if possible.  I know me and I think trying to go back Monday would be pushing it a bit, but maybe I'll be surprised.

half day?

by Tracey_E - 2019-09-19 19:51:58

Do you have the option of going back a half day? You may find you want to nap the first few days, it takes time to get the meds out of our system and we don't sleep as well. But this is nothing like the first time. 

Replacement last week

by TreLL65 - 2019-09-19 20:46:23

Hi Susan,

Glad they caught you when they did.  I just had a generator replacement last Friday, the 13th, imagine my joy at the date, LOL.  I, too, have a sit at the computer all day job.

Sadly, I’ve been told I have good pain tolerance, so my experience may not be helpful.  I remember previous replacements where I used Tylenol for maybe 24 hrs, but I didn’t feel any need for it this time.  I took a couple right before bed that first night just in case, but nothing since then.  Don’t get me wrong the area was swollen and ‘uncomfortable’ but not the kind of discomfort where I needed pain relief.  Hopefully your experience will be like this.

I was told to take 2 or 3 days for recovery, so with sick time to burn, I decided to go back Wednesday (yesterday).  I think I would have been fine going back on Tuesday, but a full Monday probably would have left me draggy for the rest of the week.  I think you’ve made a good choice.  Tracy_E makes a good point; half-days are helpful.  That’s what I would have done if I’d had to go back on Monday.

Good luck tomorrow!

Returning to work

by Susand - 2019-09-19 21:26:27

Thank you all for the advice/suggestions. I really appreciate it. Maybe if I’m feeling good enough I’ll go back for a couple half days and then maybe try a full day next Friday. 

Don't forget to come back and say how it went!

by LondonAndy - 2019-09-21 19:05:30

Trust everything went smoothly!

Surgery

by Susand - 2019-09-21 20:03:27

Surgery went fairly well. My blood pressure went really high during surgery, I’m sure to the fact the she had to get through 11 years of scar tissue to get my old pacemaker out. They did give me medicine during surgery to bring my bp down, but it didn’t really work. Got back to my recovery room and my bp was still not going down. I’ve never had trouble with my bp being high. They said that if it went down I could go home. Around 2pm they gave me more medicine to bring it down and that worked. I went home about an hour later. Doing ok, kinda wish they would have given me something to take the edge off the pain. My plan is to go back to work Tuesday for a half day and see how it goes. Then maybe another half day Wednesday and then back to full days starting Thursday.  My son came over a little bit ago and  took me to Walmart and that kinda did me in a little bit. I would have driven myself but I can’t get up in my truck yet. 

Returning to work

by Susand - 2019-09-30 11:16:29

I ended up going back to work on Tuesday full time.  I had to make a couple adjustments in my office, but things are going really well.