Most Recent Messages in Surgery & Recovery

still out of breath

hello wonderful friends
.i have learned so much from this site. we do have many kindt and knowledgable friends who share our journey and i have learned a lot..
6 yrs ago i had mitral valve replacement via davinci robot and i.
continued with atrial fib til 4/15 when admitted to hospital for chf. it seems no one knew what to do with me. my heart rate in the er was at 170 but i always could easily cardiovert at home by increasing my toprol. i had several cardioversions in the hospi...

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ablation

i go aug 25 for my 2 atrial flutter ablation,in rochester ny. they did ekg,now showing both tacy,and flutter,any body have both

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getting pace maker

thank each and everyone for their output thanks to smitty andcarolyn from texas i will see my dr on wed and will go into the hosp iam 71 years old and very active but had to slow down ,because of the tireness and and short of breath and lots of other symptoms that i ignored for a while . ilive in new york andi do like to move around is this the proper way to answer you i'm new to the club and i like it again thankyou mae

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big difference?

It has been 8 months after the implantation. but i don't feel any big difference. what kind of "big difference" do u have? i , don't feel more energetic like most people do. Just that there is no more headache after i wake up from sleep. just that. why?

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I may have the answer!

Hi. I think I may have discovered the reason for my low blood pressure (85/50). It occured to me today that my blood pressure dropped as soon as I'd had my ablation 18 days ago. Also, the dizziness started then. And I was put on Colperdogil
straight after my ablation! It's an anti-platelet drug as I'm allergic to aspirin. Well, today I've been researching the side effects of this drug & they include lowering of blood pressure, dizziness & fatigue!! I have been exhausted this week, in additi...

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Exactly 4 months post surgery

and maybe 2.5 months since discharge.

In the past 2 months, I walked 75 miles. Longest single walk was 6 miles, but I was listing like a drunk sailor for the final two miles. I'm still not sure what to do about hills. I did go up one very slowly from 0 to 360 feet.

Resting pulse and blood pressure are good, but new meds will drop blood pressure, and I will go back to being dizzy. Actually, I already am dizzy most of the time.

Had a longish discussion with the nur...

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Occ Health Outcome + Question

Hi all. Firstly, just to let you know how my appt went yesterday with the Occ Health nurse who upset me SO much last year. You may remember I was worried about seeing her & was going to take my husband with me.

Well, my husband did come with me & amazingly the nurse was quite happy for him to come into my appt with me. She was very nice to me this time (as my husband was there I think). She said I can return to work on 23rd August, on a phased return at first. So I'm working just morn...

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Tip to keep your arm down while sleeping

I am a recent PM guy. I was told not to lift my left arm over my head for 6 weeks.

My tip to all while sleeping is to by a lanyard at the drug store or at Walmart. Loop it around your left arm before you retire for the night and clip the clip to your PJ's or whatever bottoms you sleep in, works for me and it prevents the arm from going behind your head while sleeping. Works for me!

If you sleep in the buff, maybe you can attach it to your belly button ring or some other par...

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Hair and sex

Hello....I just had my first pacemaker inserted one week ago. It is killing me that I cannot blow dry my hair!! I was told to wait 2-3 weeks before lifting that left arm above my shoulder to hold a brush. Does that seem about right? The last thing i want to do is dislodge a lead.
Also, when is it ok to resume sexual activity? Is it ok after one week if i am really careful?
I understand that these are really trivial items when considering the big picture....but i am asking th...

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Surgery went well!

Hi All,
My surgery took no time at all and I was home pretty fast. It took about 20 mins. I had no medications and no IV at request as I didn't see a point. The IV hurts worse than them going through my neck and numbing it. Everything for now looks as good as it can be.
My vena cava is narrowed by 40% they said that if my pressure was above 5 they would need to do open heart and reconstruct the vena cava. My pressure was borderline but at t his time I will not need open heart b...

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Dumb doctor

I was getting ready for my surgery and discussing my pm with surgeon. The procedure they planned to use would interfere with device (pm) function, so we were discussing what to do. I suggested they call Medtronic and/or my cardiologist (who is not in the same system). After 2 hours of trying to find someone, they got the anesthesiologist involved in the discussion as they are in charge of heart function while under. Oh, what a winner!!! He wanted to know what prompted the device placement and I...

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Open heart surgery tips?

Hi Friends:-)

I was wondering if any of you ladies out there that have had to have open heart surgery for one reason or another might be able to offer some tips. What type of shirt did you find to be the most comfortable during recovery? I assume bras were out of the question for a good while but was curious to hear what others experiences were like.

I know, of all the things to be worried about I am worrying about undergarments!

Any other tips that may help re...

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Thanks to all of you!

I was planning on sending out a post as soon as I had a chance but hadn't been able to get on yet. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers. I go in for surgery on Wed it shouldn't be too big of a deal at least I keep telling myself that.
They will only be checking to see if they will need to place a stent or not. I'm lacking a lot of energy but doing very well so am hoping that this will not be anything big and I won't need more surgery.
I appreciate all of your thoughts and...

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Surgery set for SVC Syndrome

Hi Friends!

Just giving a quick update. To recap for those who do not remember me, I developed superior vena cava syndrome after my fifth ablation for inappropriate sinus tach. I was supposed to get a pacemaker during the last ablation but the EP was able to keep me from going into a junctional rhythm, so for the time being I am pacer free. However a few weeks ago I started to have sinus pauses; I will be getting a pacer after all.

Since my last post I made the decision to...

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Frustration

Pacer Chicks and Men,
I need to complain so if you don't want to read this I understand. I am very frustrated at the way things have been going with my health. It seems like it is completely up and down. The people that know me well on here through the years know my story by now.
Last week at my regular Dr's visit I went in not feeling well and not only got told that I had a sinus infection but that he also could hear that my heart was not sounding right. That he could tell tha...

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Upcoming implantation

Hi
I wrote earlier about whether or not I should get a pm. Thank you for all of your comments. I finally made the decision and am going to get it this summer. I was originally supposed to get it on Monday, but they want to put in an MRI compatible pm so they are waiting for it to arrive from Europe. My appt now is Aug 31st. They are going to put it under my breast in order to hide it since I'm only 22. Has anyone else had this? I start nursing school about 10 days after the implantat...

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Can anyone help with this please?

Hi. I have a question to ask please. For those of you who have been following my story...I had an ablation 9 days ago for focal atrial tachycardia. Originally I was going to be having a sinus node modification with possible pacemaker, but my EP found I actually had atrial tachy (& not IST) so did an ablation which went very well.

My question is this. My resting heart rate since the ablation is 80. Before the ablation it was 100.....so it has come down. But I've been going on walks thi...

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Was I missing something

I had my PM put in in spring 08 after the surgeon who did my ablation messed up. I was released from the hospital two days after I got my PM. But now, reading around on here and other sites, was my doctor supposed to put me into rehabilitation to help me better recover? I have become so week and out of shape since I got my PM. I'm wondering if I should have taken some sort of physical therapy or rehab. Or is it too late to have it now? I want to get back into shape, lose some weight. But exercis...

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Very recent PM Implant Questions

Received a St Jude 2210 implant on last Wednesday. Cardio Tech set the parameters to keep my heart between 60 and 120 to start out.

Today I had an A-fib event in the morning of 113 BPM and the PM seemed to pick it up after a few minutes and lower my beats, later my pulse went down to 43 BPM for a few minutes, this was in a 10 hour period recorded on my Garmin GPS watch chest strap.

Does this mean the PM is not working properly? puzzled? Hope to talk to someone on Monday. An...

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pacemaker

I just got an ADDR01 pacemaker, two weeks ago.so far so good. I didnt realize how bad i felt, untill after i got the implant. i feel great so far. I am glad to know that there is a site out there where people can express concerns, and talk about their implant problems. C J

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You know you're wired when...

You prefer rechargeable batteries.

Member Quotes

At age 20, I will be getting a pacemaker in few weeks along with an SA node ablation. This opportunity may change a five year prognosis into a normal life span! I look forward to being a little old lady with a wicked cane!