infected pacemaker

I am a first time user here. I had a pace maker put in on Oct 2 they were unable to put the third left lead in so I had to have it put in with the di vincni robot a few weeks later. I was never happy with it It just didn't seem right . but I was told it was from the surgery I needed to give it time. Well end of Jan one of my insicions opened under my arm, they tried to stitch it up but found out the leads were infected plus the pacemaker pocket was infected. march 2 I had pacemaker and leads removed. I am home now but I am on 4 weeks of antiobotic iv 3 times aday and I have to have a nurse for wound care for the pocket it has to heal from inside out This has been very hard for me. My doctors are from John Hopkins I just didnt expect any thing like this. Has any one else had anything similar to this?

3 Comments

ain't it a beech

by verger - 2009-03-26 06:03:57

mine became infected, they said it was a million to one shot, just my luck. after 3 months of oral antibiotics, they finally put me in the joint for removal and was on iv antibiotics for a week
had to live with an external defrib, for another month then back to the joint for insertion, this time the other side. gotta say, the original site still hurts and that was 2 years ago.
so yes, someone out here has been through your roller coaster ride. good luck,

thanks

by dc2959 - 2009-03-26 10:03:14

Thanks for your comment Im sorry for your tuff time too. It does help to talk to someone who can relate. They want me to have pacemaked icd to be put on right side after I heal but I just not sure this was very tramatic. So you are still sore from your pocket of the first pacemaker? wow 2 yrs. is a long time. take care

more of a beech

by verger - 2009-03-26 11:03:53

just as well you're getting the combo pacemaker/icd, because after all that mess i went through, they then decided to change my defib. over to a pacemaker/icd (my heart beat was getting too low), so it was back to the joint again. 3rd icd in 3 years, and 7 stays in the joint, it was becoming so frequent that i equated staying in the hospital to my only affordable vacations.
i hope your first incision clears up well, for me they had to manually run gauge and peroxide to kill anything that was left inside. i almost ripped the doctor's arm off during that not so delicate procedure.
by the way, they said mine came infected from the factory....hum, i wonder if i should believe that.

well, once again, good luck, now you just have to change all of your habits to adjust having it on the other side. actually works better for driving, no seat belt irritation.

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