Back To Work?

A little background. I had a pacemaker put in last December 28th. On December 29, it was discovered that one of the leads had moved so the surgery was redone that day. Almost 2 1/2 months later, I was still experiencing quite a bit of pain so it was decided by my doctor and myself to have a pocket revision, so on March 10th, I had the surgery for that. The pacemaker was taken out and part of the leads repositioned and then restitched. The leads in the heart were not moved.

I had my post surgery visit to the doctor a week ago Monday. Though I still have pain (I'm hoping it is just from the surgery), he did not have any problems with me going back to work this coming Monday.

Today, it has been three weeks since the revision. My question is: Am I ready to go back to work without screwing up the incision site or moving the part of the leads that were repositioned?? My work is rather physical - golf course groundskeeper - lots of raking and tree limb picking up after winter storms. I already asked my boss for one more week off (this week). I'm not looking to get out of work - but three surgeries in three months is enough. Dealing with pain and depression is no picnic. Work might be good for me but I guess I am afraid of having to go through this again.

Any advise???

Timberhitch

3 Comments

check with your M.D.

by ro - 2010-03-31 06:03:59

Yeah, that's a lot of surgery and obviously your leads move easily. I would check with your doctor because you really don't want to do this over.

Return to work

by jvaltos - 2010-03-31 11:03:38

As an implanting physician, hearing your story is really interesting. The lead dislodgement rate is about 2-3%. So that is fairly common, and the pocket revision rate is quite low (less than 1%). You had quite the go of it.

Taken all of that into consideration, I would hold you out from work the standard 6 weeks. Especially since your risk of infection is high and four surgeries would be a lot for the skin and tissues to heal from.

Unless you can absolutely guarantee that no heavy lifting will be done and that your arm will not go above your head, then sit I would sit tightly.

Ultimately, it is totally up to you and your doctor.

Dr JV

Hold on

by Dwight - 2010-04-01 10:04:54

During my recovery I found out that raking can potentially be pretty harmful so use extreme caution and don't use really long strokes. Since you would be doing a lot of that I personally think you should wait at least a couple more weeks. I only speak from experience, not as a professional.
Dwight

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It is just over 10 years since a dual lead device was implanted for complete heart block. It has worked perfectly and I have traveled well near two million miles internationally since then.