lead out of place...and didn't know it

hello! i've had my pm for 3 wks now. last sat. night i had a sudden sharp pain in the pocket where the pacer is. the pain didn't subside so sun am i went to the local er. they did a chest xray and said they thought the leads looked fine. now it's FRIDAY and i got a letter from them telling me that a lead is out of place and to call my dr. asap. i worked this week! i work in a group home, and i followed my lifting restrictions, but i did push myself all week. i knew something was not right, as my symptoms of passing out, sob, dizzy all the time and chest pain were back. more noticablly at work. i made an appt for tue to get both the pacer settings checked and the symptoms checked not knowing. i called my surgeon and they said to not work and just take it easy until things get sorted out at my appt. could i have done more damage during the week working? what does it mean to have a lead out of place? how is that fixed? i'm just so frustrated at my local hospital! they wrote the letter on monday, but didn't send it till yesterday. no phone calls from them. i wouldn't have placed myself in a position to hurt myself further if i would have known on monday like they did!!
so frustrating!
any help or advice would be more than welcomed!
thanks
k

3 Comments

Wow!

by ElectricFrank - 2009-05-01 11:05:34

They should have called you ASAP when they found the problem. It is understandable that they didn't find it until the Radiologist studied the xray, but no excuse for not informing you.

It isn't pleasant, but it sounds like the only way you are going to get this taken care of is to be more aggressive. Call the surgeons office and let them know that there was a major goof on someones part. Make it clear that you expect action now.

I doubt anything you have done has caused the problem or hurt yourself. The main outcome of a bad lead is that the pacer isn't working properly if at all and as you have noticed the original symptoms return. You have done your part in going to the ER and then following up.

What you have experienced is becoming all too common and has caused deaths. Fortunately, you aren't totally dependent.

good luck,

frank

Fixing the lead

by ShadowWeaver - 2009-05-02 03:05:28

I would think that they would need to go back in to re-position the lead in your heart. Can't imagine them not jumping at getting that done since they clearly felt you needed the PM in the first place. Like Frank said, keep on top of them and get this taken care of ASAP. You might even want to talk to an administrator at the hospitol about why it took them so long to let you know that the lead was out of place. They should have called you as soon as they figured it out.

Michael

yep

by newbiegal5 - 2009-05-02 08:05:18

yeah, i am planning on speaking with an administrator at my local hospital about this mess up on their part. they have all of my phone numbers: home (which is where i was, they sent me HOME to rest) and 3 family members were there all day with me. so i know they didn't call sun and then the same thing mon. . they also have my cell and my work #! I know the numbers are right cause everytime you have a ct or exray there they print out your info and you approve it.
also, i'm going to call my surgeon mon am and let them know about this. i have the appt tue, but they don't know that the lead is out as i didn't open my letter until almost 6:30pm friday. this is crazy!!
i'm just mad cause my bday is coming towards the end of this month and i was looking forward to walking on state park trails. i had been walking every day to build stamina like the doc said, and now i'll have to start all over!! ahhhrrhhggg!! (that's my pirate speak)
k
ps. thanks for everything!

You know you're wired when...

Your ICD has a better memory than you.

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