Most Recent Messages in Surgery & Recovery

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What to expect

I thought my experience was like riding a roller coaster until I read some of your stories. Anyway on the 25th of July I had a loop recorder inserted after a failure at attempting an ablation. I had the loop 2 weeks when they decided I need a pacemaker like right now. I got a medtronics pacer with two leads on August 12. Seven days later I had to have the leads replaced because they had discharged from position. On th 19th of Aug. I had pacemaker surgery for the second time. I am at home...

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bruised from elec shock?

My dad just got his 2nd pacemaker. It was supposed to be a regular, maybe outpatient procedure. My mom was told they wanted to keep him overnight for observation--no big deal.
Upon his arrival at home, my mom noticed he had a massive bandage on his chest and was covered from head to toe with bruises. Even his lower lip was purple. During my dad's stay
the hospital, a nurse told him that his heart had stopped during surgery and they had to give him electric shock to start it back u...

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chest/arm pain

I read a few other posts. I had the replacement surgery a week ago - felt great at first. The last 3 nights I have felt the area - it feels hot. Also, my chest hurts and it radiates down my arm. I know it's not a heart attack - I'm not dead. I think some of it is fear making it worse. I feel skipping once in a while - maybe 3 quick beats - but basically the heart rate is 60 as set. I will call the doctor today. Could this be normal healing?
Thanks.
Ellen

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is this weird?

Hi,
So I have a question. After an EP study or catheter ablation, is it weird/unusual for a few days later for your 'insides' to be almost sore? Like my chest feels swollen from the inside almost like there is pressure on the left side of my rib cage.
It feels weird, but I don't know if it's something that I need to worry about.
thanks.

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Turning the pacer off

I was going to have nose surgery until the surgeon discovered I had a pacer. He stated that they would have to get a representative from the pacer maker to turn the pacer off prior to and during surgery sincw it will cause problems with the anestesia.
Anyone ever hear of this? wow! What if I needed emergency surgery?
Ken

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ep study and ablation

I had an ep study and ablation attempt this morning and it didn't work. The equipment had issues and everytime they got my heart into the "correct" rhythm something went wrong, either the catheter wasn't recording, or was in the wrong place or the guy running the computer wasn't on the ball and kept pacing over the arythmeia making the capture totally useless. I understand that this can happen, but they worked at it for 4.5 hours and I was given 10 mg of the crap that makes your heart rate crazy...

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drains and surgical ablation

Hi! I had surgical ablation of my sinus node on July 30 to treat my Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia. It seems it worked (after 5 failed catheter ablations) and now my pacemaker is doing all the job. My SA node is not working, and it feels weird, but great, to have a perfect rhythm at last!

My question is about the drains they used in surgery. They had to deflate my right lung and there was a lot of fluid accumulated afterwards, so they put two Blake drains on the right side. Problem...

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Replacement Surgery

Well, I made it through my replacement surgery. However, they sent me home with nothing - nothing for pain and nothing in case of infection. And waking up this morning I felt as though someone had been beating my chest, shoulder and neck with an aluminium baseball bat. The doctor on call was surprised and wrote up a prescription for Percoset.

I'm now a much happier camper though it looks like my incision is kind of swollen and it itching like hell already. Any tips or things I should...

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driving restriction

Hi,
I've been restricted from driving since my EP figured out that my tachycardia was causing me to pass out (not that it was actually the cause but the period of time between tachy and normal rhythm when my heart does nothing causes me to pass out) without any warning. It is understandable, not being allowed to drive. I am having an ablation tomorrow and am wondering how long after an ablation people were removed from driving restriction? I have four jobs and am a full time student and do...

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1. Swelling 2. Driving

I am now 8 days post implant and really feel much more energy and am so pleased. I am still quite swollen & back/blue/yellow/green and it looks like I have about a half of a hard boiled egg sticking out of my chest. Will it disappear completely over time or will it always still have a noticeable bump? (Im 59 and fairly muscular & have a Medtronic PM).
DRIVING - how soon do most people start driving after surgery - I have an automatic trans. and feel ready, but my doc had said 2 weeks - is...

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One depressing movie

OMG did I ever make a mistake. Had heard it was a great movie (and it is, one of the best I have seen in a while) but it was the wrong movie at the wrong time. Watched The Wrestler last weekend, right before I had to leave on my first business trip since I had my PM implanted. While the movie is really great it left me worn out and depressed after watching it. I am still in the up and down emotional part of my recovery and it was hard to watch and even harder to think about when it was over.

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Can you feel the pacing???

I just had a pacemaker installed last week. I really think that i am feeling little electrical impulses in my heart. It seems to come in a double patter with a very slight pause in between. The first little shock is always higher than the second. I have tried to pinpoint the specific spots, but they are not always exactly the same - they are consistently on the rt side of my heart (toward the center of my chest).
Does anyone else get these sensations? Is this just a temporary occurrence...

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Early Surgery

Hey ya'll.. newbie here (new to the forums). I've had a pacer since I was 16 and have had a few pacer replacements since then (the last being in May of 2002). Back in February, I had a checkup and they said I had about a year and a half left on the current one I have.

Since then, an opportunity has come up for me to takeover a small restaraunt business, but unfortunately as you're probably all aware, I'm conflicted, because it would cause a lapse in my health insurance. The insurance...

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Bi-V surgery, day 8 post-op

Off to the races today. Incision site still very sore, feels a bit itchy, which means the scab is healing well. I can finally sleep on my side, which has led to a lot better sleep at night (I was unable to sleep for the first 48+ hours.
I have been walking at least a mile every day, no issues. The only thing is that the incision site chafes against the shirt and becomes irritated. I fixed that. I got a large bandage and cut the ends off of it. Put it right over the site. Plenty of air gets...

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Scar tissue

Hi, i was just wondering::

I am a 15 year old female who had a PM implanted 6 months ago. As with most females, my surgeon implanted it under my left armpit. I have one 2 inch scar directly under my armpit, and one 1cm scar on my upper chest.

My question is about scar tissue,, I know that scar tissue is supposed to be numb, which the one under my arm is, but the one on my chest is not,, is that because it is so small?

Also, i have quite a bit of skin that is num...

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Bi-V surgery, day 4 post op

Implant date was 8/3, it has been almost 4 days since the surgery. Still a LOT of pain at the incision site. Am only taking Tylenol with an ice pack, so that may be part of it. I have only slept about 4 hours total all week. Can't get comfortable in any position, pain and overall distress about having a piece of metal in my chest.
The positives: I can already sense that my lung capacity feels extra-ordinary. In fact, I think the PM has my LBBB re-routed so well that my hear is beating more...

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Pull Tab...?????

Okay, interesting thing happened last night. Since my surgery one side of my scar has been itching like hell and has had what seemed like a little scab to it. Last night I accidentally scratched it and low and behold a small knot was lodged in there and that small not pulled loose and is attached to what looks like very low test fishing line which now is out about a half inch. Not sure whether to just pull on it and snap it, cut it as close to the skin as possible or what. Pulling it has me...

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Bi-V surgery, day 1 post op

Comment posted by IronMan66 on 2009-08-04 11:34.
Had a slight delay in the surgery due the the patient before me had some complications. As for me, the worst thing about it was I was starving by the time I went to the OR. As you know, nothing to eat or dring past midnight, and I expected to be in the OR at 9:30. . . had to wait until 4:30 pm.
Surgery went very well, doctors and nurses were all very nice. When I woke up, it seemed like there was 20 people in the room. All of them talk...

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Bi-V surgery, recovering at home

At home now, about 27 hours since the surgery. They released me at about 1:00 today after everything was tested and checked out ok. I think the Darvocit pain medicine they gave me was causing a lot of the dizziness. . . but it did kill the pain.
On a scale of 0-10, the pain now is about a 5. I decided to switch to Tylenol to see if that will work instead. I am told I have a high tolerance for pain, so I am hoping to avoid the Darvocit unless it gets really bad.
The scar looks pretty...

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Ablation, mailboxphobia and walletdectomy

I had an ablation done a couple of weeks ago and have been suffering from mailboxphobia which is a fear of looking in the mail box and finding a large bill.

The bill for the hospital stay is about $192,000. The insurance company explanation of benefits states that they will pay the contract rate of about $86,000. The form also states the hospital is not supposed to bill me for the $105,000 but I will still suffer from mailboxphobia for the next several months until I find out for sur...

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Do feel free to contact the manufacturer of your device. I have found them to be quite helpful when I have had questions and concerns.