Rare Complication

• by scadnama
• 2009-10-16 10:10:59
• General Posting
• 1130 views
• 4 comments

Happy Friday Pacemaker Pals!

Just wanted to say thanks to those of you who were so supposrtive during my hospital stay this week!

As many of you know, I had open heart surgery about 9 weeks ago to correct SVC Syndrome. After the surgery, I felt great for the first 6 weeks or so, and then I started getting strange symptoms. The symptoms progressed to the point where they were becoming debilitating, but my doctors just couldn't figure out what was wrong.

On Monday, I took the 4 hour drive to see my Cardiologist, and he had a full day planned for me. I had my pacemaker checked, an echo, and a CT scan of my chest. By Monday afternoon, I received a phone call from my doctor with orders to go straight to the hospital. Turns out that I had a large collection of fluid between my sternum (breast bone) and my heart. This fluid was putting extreme pressure on the right side of my heart, and not allowing it to pump properly.

I was admitted Monday night, and on Tuesday morning, a pericardial drain was surgically placed to drain the fluid. The drain stayed in place for about 48 hours, and I was discharged yesterday.

My doctors are stumped by all of the rare conditions and complications that they keep running into with me. Apparantly this type of fluid collection is very rare, as was my reason for needing open heart surgery in the first place.

I'm just glad that they were able to figure things out so quickly and get it taken care of. I have an amazing team of doctors, and am so thankful for the hard work that they have put forth for me.

Amanda