Surgery... with some complications

I just got back from the hospital following the insertion of my dual chamber pacemaker.

I'm 21, so it all came as a bit of a shock to me, trying to come to terms with having to stop some of the contact areas of my martial arts has been difficult.

I was only supposed to be in the hospital overnight, but during surgery my lung was punctured by the anaesthetic needle and it collapsed! I didn't blame the Doctor at all, he did a great job, but I was born with very large lungs and he didnt expect my lungs to be where they were. I only realised that something was wrong the night after my surgery, when I was feeling short of breath and had a slight pain at the top of my breath. When the nurse came in in the morning to take my oxygen saturation and blood pressure it was apparent that something was wrong. I went for an x-ray and it was evident that I had a large pnemothorax, "not leaving today then" I thought.

My Doctor recommended that, as I was a young and fit, I should wait for 24 hours to see if the pneumothorax self corrected. Unfortunately it didn't, and during this time I was in a great deal of pain and discomfort.

The next day I had a further x-ray and it was shown that my lung had deflated further, so they carried out a chest-drain procedure - which is quite painful. After a further 48 hours they removed the drain and after one more night in hospital I was finally allowed to leave!

So I'm home now with my new pacemaker, and I have to say the Doctor did an incredible job, he put it between the top pectoral and the bottom pectoral (minor and major?) and you honestly cannot see it at all, apart from - of course - the scar, which is also very neat.

My experience has taught me that whilst you may be tested in life these tests will make you grow as a person, and in the end it will all be ok :).

Now I need to figure out how to try and live my life as close as possible to how I was living.

I wish luck to anyone here who has an upcoming pacemaker operation, and I hope that I'm proof that even if things DO go wrong, it's not the end of the world.

Jake

3 Comments

Wow!!!

by Bionic Man - 2010-01-19 05:01:54

Sounds like you were put through the ringer. At least you got out of it alright. I had a couple of complications during my surgery also. They weren't as bad as yours. I never blamed the Dr's either. They did a great job. It will take some time but you should be able to return to the things you enjoyed before the pacer.
Good Luck,
Bob

Good going

by ElectricFrank - 2010-01-20 02:01:37

I am impressed by your attitude about the whole thing. It really pays off. I'm at the other end of the life spectrum (coming up on 80 yrs), but go at it the same way.

My suggestion is to give yourself a few days to recover from the lung problem and gradually pick up activity. About the only limitation for a while is some of the really rough impact activities until the leads have a chance to settle in. After that just be aware of what could hit the pacer itself or be painful. I go four wheel drive exploring in the Calif desert and cover roads that are hard to walk on. The worst thing I did was trip and fall on my large camera with it between the ground and the pacer. None of this has done any damage.

When you go for your first programming checkup ask for a printout of the pre and post report. Some of us here can help you understand how your pacer is set to operate. Cardiologists aren't as experienced with people in good physical shape and often use conservative settings that put more limits on you than necessary.

best,

frank

Pay attention to recovery

by Pelelives - 2010-01-20 09:01:41

I had a pneumothorax with PM placement as well. They did the needle/chest drain procedure and I went home (after overnight hospital stay). That was on a Friday. By Sunday I was having some breathing problems and some pain in my chest. By Monday it was really bad and I ended up back in with a recurrent pneumothorax and went through the whole thing again. I has been 7 weeks now and I haven't had any more problems. I am only telling you this so that if you have anything weird happen in the short-term you get it checked right away.

You know you're wired when...

Your life has spark.

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