Pericardial effusion

My daughter had her pace maker implanted this summer. Initially the surgery went well. It was afterwards that complications arose. She stayed one night in the ICU after her surgery. (she has other health issues) She was sent home the next day. She was in extreme pain, she is only 7 and didn't complain at all, but I had to help her walk and move. Took her back and she ended up having pneumonia and pericarditis. Poor thing. So she was re-admitted and spent another night. We went home the next day. A few days later and ECHO showed that the fluid was building. Another ECHO 48 hrs. later showed that the fluid had almost tripled. She was again re-admitted. They had to preform a drain into her chest to reduce the fluid. Apparently a piece of her heart had collapsed form the pressure. It was quite scary. But Abby took it with courage. I explained to her about the drain and where it would be and she was like, "ok". What a kid.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else had had this situation.
Abby is fine now BTW.
Tess

5 Comments

sending hugs and prayers

by Tracey_E - 2008-09-09 07:09:27

What a trooper your daughter is! I have no experience or advice whatsoever but I wish her a speedy and uneventful recovery.

Thinking of your daughter

by derickboy9 - 2008-09-09 11:09:47

What a brave little girl! Prayers to her and to your family.

I had it, too

by ela-girl - 2008-09-09 12:09:38

Hi, Tess.

Yes, your little girl sure is a tough cookie! Wow!

When I had my pm implanted, everything went fine and I felt good. Then I started to have pain in my pacer area for weeks before I went to the doctor. When I finally did go, my EP was out of the office for a family emergency and I saw another doc in the office. She told me that it was just 'normal' pain and to basically 'deal with it.' Well, to me, pain is always a sign that something isn't right. But I was new to the pacer and figured maybe she was right. Well, when the pain started to affect my sleeping and I couldn't move or breathe without severe pain, I went back in and was able to see my EP. Turns out it was pericarditis. I was around 10 weeks post-implant.

I was given an anti-inflammatory medicine to take for 5 days and prevacid to take because of the acid the anti-inflam causes. Within two days of taking it, I was feeling all better. I went in for a recheck (a week since being diagnosed) and told the doctor how great I felt. He could still hear a faint "squeak" (from the friction rub) and told me to keep an eye on it and call if it got worse (so they can do a echo and an ultrasound). I then just took a high dosage of Ibprofuen for a couple of days to make sure what was left of the inflammation went away.

So...that was my experience with pericarditis. I never needed the fluid drained because the meds did take care of it for me. But it was so very painful. The doctor isn't quite sure what first caused the pericaridits because they caught it late but is sure that it was exacerbated from a sinus infection that had gotten into my lungs via drainage. The lining of your lungs is also the same lining that works over towards your heart's lining. The infection traveled towards my heart--something about the pm being a foreign object blah blah blah. I can't quite remember it all right now. It took about 2 months to get rid of the pericarditis.

I wish your daughter a speedy recovery and one that is not so 'exciting!'

ela-girl

Pericardial effusion, too

by nallen - 2008-09-11 09:09:23

Yes, I had a periacardial effusion and had to have emergency surgery with no sedation as my blood pressure had dropped so low. Same story - heart wall punctured by lead wire. My surgery was a week after PM implant. It is a rare complication, so we are fortunate that it was caught in time or the results would have been "tragic" as one of my cardiologists put it. I am thankful your daughter is doing better now!

Try meds longer

by Carla - 2008-09-17 06:09:32

I have 6 year old twins that both received pacers this summer. One of our twins had a large effusion too about 4 weeks after his implant. He responded really well to heavy doses of ibuprofin, lasix and prednisone. It sounds like you daughter was rushed through the process so quickly - like treatments and discharge - even after surgery. After treatment for the effusion, it did come back one week after stopping the prednisone. He was back in the ICU, and this time he was on prednisone for about a month and ibuprofin 3x day for longer than a month. Our doctor is very proactive and checks him every few weeks with an echo.

Good luck!

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