Staph infection, 11 days in the hospital ….

And my pacemaker was saved! It's been a crazy couple of months. I had my CRT-P implanted on August 31. A few weeks later I developed a staph infection. It was not in my blood and as of today it is staying in my body! Very happy that everything worked out. I never had a fever or chills or any signs that the infection went into my body but the incision site was pretty scary. Everything is healing up good and I am so grateful! I wanted to share in case anybody else is going through complications.
 

Kris

1 Comments

I hope you make good progress from now on

by Gemita - 2021-10-15 14:13:12

Kris, I am happy they were able to successfully treat your infection with IV antibiotics without device/lead removal.  That would have been my worst fear as well.  I note your infection was contained within the incision site area and there appeared to be no evidence of systemic spread.  That was lucky and you obviously received timely, appropriate treatment.

I hope you are now able to heal properly and that there will be no further hospital admissions.  

It is important that anyone with noticeable signs of a localized pocket infection following implant seek advice quickly.  Signs might include oozing from the incision, unusual sudden swelling, redness, warmth, an open or a non healing wound.  

An infection within the device pocket can quickly spread down the leads affecting the heart and then spread systemically, when removal of device and leads will then be necessary.  The earlier any localized pocket infection is detected and treated, the better.  However normal healing may also present with some swelling, redness but the incision site should start to heal within 7-10 days if all is well.  If in doubt, seek help 

You know you're wired when...

You have a new body part.

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In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.