Going for my post op visit tomorrow

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since my pm implant for third degree heart block. My appointment with the EP is supposed to be a wound check. Should I ask any specific questions at this appointment?

After 2 weeks I still don't have the strength I had before all this started. My situation was that I had 2 episodes of wooziness before I ended up in the hospital and 5 days later got the pacemaker. At the end of the day I am pretty tired. I have been doing minimal housework and take several short walks a day. Three weeks ago, I was a bundle of energy and exercised almost everyday and walked at least a couple of miles each day. Should I bring this up at the appointment?

It's just at 2 weeks I don't feel like I have made tremendous progress in my recovery, unless I am being unrealistic in my expectations

6 Comments

Question About PM

by SMITTY - 2010-03-09 08:03:15

Hello Hheartu,

You ask if you should ask any specific questions at this appointment? Absolutely! And I can think of nothing better for you to do than take a printout of the last two paragraphs of the message you posted here.

The Dr may be doing a wound check but if you don't ask any questions he will no reason to think you are not dong fine. So speak up now and as often as necessary to get the results you are entitled to get from your pacemaker.

Good luck,

Smitty

Takes a While

by MSPACER - 2010-03-09 08:03:21

It takes a while to feel better. The surgery is a big thing even though the docs will tell you that it is minor. After about a month, you will begin to feel a lot better. You may need to have the pacemaker settings adjusted based on your specific needs. They will probably interrogate the pacemaker, as well as check the incision site.

You may also still be feeling the effects of the anesthesia and antibiotics that you were given for the surgery.

Time

by Pookie - 2010-03-09 09:03:05

It does take time for us to heal. Our incisions might look completely healed but inside there is a lot of healing yet to be completed. Unfortunately, we all heal at different speeds so there is no one answer for everyone.

I'm repeating what others have said, but it is so true, that it might take a few "tweaks' (adjustments) of your settings to make you feel better. We could both have the same heart problem/diagnosis, but yet we could both have totally different settings.

When you have your pacemaker interrogated, this is the time to speak up like Smitty said and tell them exactly how you are feeling. Think of it as a piano...it has to be fine tuned...for YOU. (that's the way I look at it).

If you don't speak up, then the doctors will think everything is okay and will let you walk out the door. So, even though you may think what you are feeling is part and parcel of the healing process right now....tell them everything!! as a simple setting adjustment could have you feeling wonderful.

I guess what I'm trying to say is to start off with any doctor with a good line of open communication.

And all I know is that it took me a good 4 to 6 weeks before I began to feel I was on the road to feeling somewhat "normal". Being put to sleep can wreak havoc on your body. Plus, like MSPACER said: it was surgery!!!!

Take care and ask lots of questions and tell them how you feel!!!!!!!

Pookie

Glad you asked

by DanaT - 2010-03-09 09:03:19

Hi heartu - I'm so glad you asked that question. I go in for my incision check tomorrow too and I pretty much feel the same way you do. The only thing I'm afraid of is that they will have an assistant check the wound instead of the actual doctor, then I may have to make a separate appointment for my questions. I would like them to lower my heart rate from 80 to 60 (at least at night). I find it hard to relax with my heart rate up so high. I was hoping to have that done tomorrow but I have a feeling they won't. But ya, I feel the same as you. I had much more energy before the surgery. I'm HOPING it's just because I'm still recovering.

New pacer

by jan - 2010-03-09 11:03:34

I'm a 3rd degree heart block person also. When I had a spell I'd be wiped out for a few days but then back to my old self. However when the pacer went in, I could not get back on my feet. Finally went to a natural Dr. and she suggest I do milk thistle for a week to get the drugs out of my system from the surgery. I felt much better, and don't know if it was the recommend or the laspe of time. I'm ready for my third pacer in a couple of months and in the 20 years i've had some rough times with the situation. However the alternative would have not allowed me to watch the grandkids grow up, or have 48 years with my high school love. So all things considered life is like is a journey and occasionaly we get a flat tire along the way. If I didn't say anything not a person could tell I have a pacer. So life continures on pretty much normal with a little help now and then.

Wound Check

by Toolooze - 2010-03-10 09:03:39

My implant was Jan 20, 2010 and I am just now regaining my range of motion. I have not experienced a lot of pain, but the recovery took almost as long as it did for heart surgery. By all means, ask questions; they may not evaluate the implant function, only the wound itself.

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