Pacemaker bulging out!

My son is 21 months. He has had his pacemaker since he was 2 months. At 5 months it was moved from his left side to his right to make room for a g-tube.

I noticed this winter that it was bulging out. But, now it is WAY out there. It looks like he has a tangerine under the skin. It has changed. I called this morning and now we have an appointment with a surgeon tomorrow afternoon. It doesn't seem to bother him. But it is really soft?

What do you think? And do you know what I should expect? I am really worried that there could be something really wrong. Please help,

Thank you,
Cindy

3 Comments

Scary

by slarnerd - 2008-06-17 01:06:42

Hi Cindy. We have corresponded here before - my son is 22 mo with a pacer. My son's pacer was more apparent as he grew taller and lost some of the infant bulk (though he never had too much), but what you describe sounds much different. Perhaps it has shifted and is pushing out an organ or something? There is a mom on the yahoo group for kids with pacers whose son had just what you describe - though just after surgery. It was fluid and it did diminish. I encourage you to join that support group and you can correspond with 60+ moms of paced kids who might have some insight on this and other concerns.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/heartblockkids/

In any case, please let me know what the surgeon says. I can understand your fear and stress on this. I hope it is something that will improve on it's own or with minimal invasion.

Sterling

Thank you slarnerd!

by clichtenberg - 2008-06-17 10:06:06

Thank you for your comment. It turns out it is a hernia. The surgeon had me take him for a CT scan. I googled hernia and decided it is a incision hernia from his pacemaker. He does have constipation and has a hard time with his bowel movements. I'll find out for sure when the doctor calls. It will requir surgery :(.

I've tried the yahoo group thing and I don't like the format of getting it in my e-mails. Is that what it is like, or was I doing something wrong? I much prefer this type of format. Thank you very much for the invitation. Maybe, I should try it again.

Thanks,

Cindy

What a relief!

by slarnerd - 2008-06-18 10:06:22

Max developed an incisional hernia too. The first one was about a month after his initial implant at 1 day old. It was popping out so much that they were concerned that it (the intestine) would become strangulated by his muscle and cut off his blood circulation. It only really popped out and bulged when he cried - but then it was huge. They went in and repaired it when he was 6 weeks old. However, last week, when they opened him up to replace his leads and generator, they found that the hernia had not completely healed and repaired it again. We were told that he may need yet another hernia repair in the future for this. However at this stage it is not an emergency if it redevelops - so not to worry. Yeah right! I learned that it happens more commonly with an implant placed in a small infant b/c there is only so much room so naturally, the organs and everything get pushed out of place. I can tell you that the surgery to repair it at 6 weeks took less than one hour and he was completely healed in about 2 weeks. But the scar from it was worse than the pacemaker scar -- it basically extended it and had more stitches. However, at this last surgery they completely repaired that and his scar should be gorgeous again. LOL. Only a heart kid's mom could say that!

As for the yahoo group. You have several options. You can receive the messages by email (and there are a lot), you can select to have a digest (one email a day with all that day's messages), or you can just visit the group on the web at it's site and read the messages (like you do here). However, it is not organized in categories, etc. I can switch you to web view if you join - if you like.

Check your private messages - I am sending you one.

Sterling

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