Most Recent Messages in Surgery & Recovery

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Pressure Dressing

Well I thought I knew about pacemaker surgery having 2 put in. Wrong ! I woke up in recovery with an ace bandage around shoulder and chest. Taped down to upper breast. Unfortunately, nurse said because of bleeding. I am very very thin with loss of muscle due to neuropathy. Has anyone had a pressure dressing ? On for 3 days. Doctor did mention he change location due to muscle loss. 

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walking in a pool

I will just be past my 3 week mark of getting my pacemaker.  I know I can get in a shower, however, has anyone got into a pool and just walked around?  We are going south to relax and I would love to at least get in the pool and walk around to cool off!

Thanks!

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Any immediate advice helpful...stomach muscle spasms when in lean forward?

Since the surgery and placement of new leads, anytime I lean forward or "bend at the waist" I start get involuntary muscle spasms in my stomach areas. They appear to be in sync with what my pacing would be?  Is it possible one of my leads is somehow pacing into my muscles when i bend forward?

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HEART RATE VARIATION AFTER PACEMAKER IMPLANT

Hi Everyone

I am a brand new member of the Pacemaker Club. I had the intial implant done on 6th May and because the atria lead became detached I had it redone the followig day. All is now well but I have a question about something I do not understand.

At night when the beating of the heart is quite clear my heart rate increases to in excess of 100 bpm in what seems to be a controlled fashion and then settles down after several minutes to my normal resting rate of around 60. It is...

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Nervous

66. Nervous! Implant this morning and then a elec cardiovert. Been in perm afib and many other issues. Now going into HF. Two ablations RF and Alcohol. So now this is the Hail Mary last hope. I know i need this but im nervous and feel it is so unnatural. Do you really feel better? I just want to live a normal active life, no more ER's or Hospitals. Any tips or thoughts

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Discomfort after 6 months

Hi

I am 6 month post surgery and still have pain when I liedown,I find it difficult to actually turn over in bed and I am not sleeping very well.

This isn't my first pm and I have not experienced this after past surgery's just thought I would ask if anyone else has experienced this.

I have sent a email to my cardiologist today and hope to get it sorted.

 

Maureen 

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Water on incision

Not sure if I should post this on surgery and recovery or exercise and sports but here goes!

I'm about 3 weeks post implant and feeling great. However I haven't taken a shower without covering my incision site yet. I had internal stitches and that surgical glue to close it so it looks nice and there's only a tiny scab left, but I've just been afraid it's going to sting when the water finally hits it. My doctor advised me that before getting it wet I should use alcoho...

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Lead Punctured My Left Ventricle

Hi, this is my brand new entrance into the Pacemaker Club! I just turned 60 on March 5. I received a Medtronic pacemaker on March 24. Less than 48 hours later I  began to have sharp stabbing chest pains.  The pains were not related to the suture site or the skin around the pacemaker.  I called my cardiologist's office and they said it was related to post-surgery discomfort. For the next week they would come and go. My cardiologist scheduled an appointment & he said all...

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New To Me Boston Sci. Pacemaker

Hello,

Just now getting on with my recovery after recent implant. I was told initally the only time I will hear from the PM is when my pulse drops bellow set threashold. I have SSS with Syncope last past two years due to LBB. Finally the Dr. was able to see what was going on with a Bio-Tel Remote monitoring. Anyway that is the background. When I started to have symptoms Post Surgery of heart palpitations, hard to breath etc. The Dr. was not sure, maybe tacycardia but I said I was going...

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Feeling pacemaker?

Hi everyone, 

I'm 19 and just had my pacemaker implanted on April 16 after a positive tilt table test and a diagnosis of vasovagal syncope I think. My EP was really split on whether or not I should get the pacemaker because of my age and since I've had very few episodes, but my heart rate was practically 0 for about 15 seconds during the test and I didn't have any obvious triggers to when I've passed out in the past. After talking to my family and weighing...

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Post PM fitting underarm bruising

Hi all. I'm so grateful for this group, it's put my mind at rest on so many issues! I had a dual lead Medtronic PM fitted on 16 April, for AV heart block and a very low pulse. All seemed to go well, and I feel so much better than I have for months! However, I've noticed that since the procedure, my left underarm looks  discoloured. As I can't lift my arm properly at the moment, I can't tell if it's bruising or some weird skin problem. The texture of the skin feels...

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pacemaker and surgery

Pretty soon I need surgery for my torn rotator cuff. I have a pacemaker and now I am wondering how the anaesthesia will work with my pacemaker.

I am sure the anaesthetist needs to know about my pacemaker. Does anybody had surgery with a pacemaker and what are the results? I am very scared what will happen. Thank you

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Chest pain

Its been a month since implant and I have had a weird pressure/discomfort in the center of my chest.  Its almost like I had been coughing too hard for a long time but I haven't been coughing.   Sometimes aches in the same area of the chest when I swallow (I was NOT intubated) for the implant.  This has appeared off and on since the surgery but have felt it more in the last couple days.   

Any thoughts?   

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Very bruised left nipple

Two years ago I had a basic pm after AV node ablation, but I soon developed permanent Atrial flutter and  my LV function became moderately impaired. I also had two VT episodes a year apart. The latter in January, conveniently as I was walking up the stairs to the Cardio dept.   Cardio advised an upgrade to a CRT-D.  Had this done two weeks ago.  Have had a bumpy recovery so far and feeling pretty exhausted.    When I was allowed to s...

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Hard Lump at Incision Site

I am 65 and received ICD surgery on April 2. The level of pain, for the first 3 days afterward, took me aback. However, I am no longer in pain. I am pretty sure that there was no infection. The scar line has healed very neatly, no leakage, no discharge and the bruising has almost completely disappeared. 

My concern is that there is a hard mass (bulge) under the incision area which has not gone away. Is this a cyst, a keloid or the device itself? Will this go away o...

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Please help! Feeling awful after surgery + other concerns

Hi everyone! I could really use some guidance. So, I am 26 and got my pacemaker implanted four days ago. I know that pain/soreness in the incision is totally normal, but even despite this, I haven’t felt well since getting the pacemaker put in. A few things I’ve been experiencing:

  1. Sharp pain in my left side ribs around the mid-section
  2. Dizziness/lightheadedness + nausea
  3. Soreness on the right side of my neck, and inside my throat when I cough
  4. Back...

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Moving 1st PM Subcutaneous to Intra/Sub Pectoral

I just had my 1st PM implanted on 3/19/21 for AVB 2nd.  I had asked the surgeon a couple of times before surgery how would it look and more importantly would it be safe around my two very active Boxer Dogs.  He said just a "small bump," and "no problem" with the dogs.

However in reality, and I am feeling a great deal of concern and looking like Frankenstein(wife's word).  The device (Medtronic AsureXT) is significantly raised above the surroun...

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Nighttime sling use?

Hello all!  I had my PM put in on April 1st. The dressing has been removed (yes it's like Frankenstein) and I've had the device check. Everything looks good and is on track.  The site is very sore and any clothes touching it is uncomfortable but from what I've read that will go away.  My question is about sleeping. I know that I constantly raise both of my arms over my head during the night. I am using my left arm during the day without the sling  fol...

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is this normal

just got an afib ablation last Tuesday (April 6) and a 2 lead pacemaker Wednesday.Days are definitely better in terms of mental acuity and physical capacity (aside from surgery trauma).  Had a couple of pretty good nights and then last night (Saturday) was the worst episode of bizarre symptoms I've had since my discomfort hit the "I'm in trouble" level last August. Felt like an energy storm inside my body, with tingling feet, pounding, massive ringing in the ears,...

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Newbie

I just got my pacemaker after a whirlwind weekend of emergency phone calls from my cardiologist. I got the call at work to get to a hospital asap. Apparently when reviewing my halter monitor results they saw a 30 sec pause. Holy moley. Before this all my doctors just chocked my fainting episodes up to vasovagal. 

Its been 3 days and I feel some tightness and fluttering in my chest, occasional shortness of breath, and some pain at my incision sight. I understand this...

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Life does not stop with a pacemaker, even though it caught me off guard.