Simple Question

Hello all, I had my PM put in 5 days ago and was wondering if it's ok to get the site wet now? My wife has beed covering it when I shower but would like to take a shower without the cover. When did you take full showers and let the water get on your incision? Thak you for any answers.

10 Comments

shower

by mike thurston - 2012-09-02 01:09:29

I am sure 5 days is a little too soon to take a shower with the incision exposed. Call the Doctors or check your instructions you should have gotten when discharged. The shower is a good place to get it infected and you definitely want to avoid that. Be patient and cautious, very minor inconvemience to avoid possible trouble.
Mike

Thanks

by Caguy - 2012-09-02 02:09:47

Thank you for your reply I have this problem that I always want to push forward before I'm suppose to.Anyway I will call Dr tomorrow and see what he says. Again Thanks AL

Better to ask forgiveness

by ILoominatedEKG - 2012-09-02 02:09:47

I'm kinda like you. I feel nasty when I don't wash something regularly.

Different docs say different things. The cardio who put my PM in said one week. The one who fixed it a month later took the bandage off the next day, approved of the incision condition, and told me I can shower but do not soak it.

The only real issues I would be concerned with are: is it sealed (no bleeding, seepage, etc), and is it normal (scabbed over, no redness, excesswive swelling, heat, etc). If all is clear, you can prolly shower without a problem. Just don't rub it while washing or drying.

But I'm not a doctor either. In the end, it's on you whatever you decide to do. The hard part for me is figuring out which instructions have a real basis and which are designed merely to avoid lawsuits. If I'm not pretty certain of the later, I assume the former and follow distructions.

thanks my friend

by Caguy - 2012-09-02 03:09:07

It's hard just sitting around looking at tv or reading but that's what the wife likes. I was reading about electric that could be a problem. I hook up my golf cart to a charger 48 volts and let it charge ,but was reading were it said to keep away from transformers and different types of electric items, have any of you heard this? Any help would do. Thanks AL

Heard of it?

by ILoominatedEKG - 2012-09-02 04:09:32

I live it. I trim trees out fo electric lines for a living. I have to buy a decent RF meter to gauge the EM fields and determine if I still have a job. But I work around HIGH voltage (7,000v daily, sometimes as high as 134,000v).

I went directly to Medtronics on this one. They sent me precise levels to detect. You don't have to be paranoid about it. Magnetic fields may affect it - they won't destroy it. The rule of thumb is simple and effective. If you get close to something and it makes you feel funny, move away. Typically all that is happening is a temporary blip. The exception would be if you were standing right beside a huge 1,000KW generator when it turned on. You might not have time to get far enough away before you passed out if your heart is REALLY dependent on the PM.

Most of the non industrial stuff you get around will not cause anything but an extremely minor inconvenience. So don't drive yourself into having to take psycho-active meds from the worry. LOL

Best wishes - Dave

Heard of it?

by ILoominatedEKG - 2012-09-02 04:09:33

I live it. I trim trees out fo electric lines for a living. I have to buy a decent RF meter to gauge the EM fields and determine if I still have a job. But I work around HIGH voltage (7,000v daily, sometimes as high as 134,000v).

I went directly to Medtronics on this one. They sent me precise levels to detect. You don't have to be paranoid about it. Magnetic fields may affect it - they won't destroy it. The rule of thumb is simple and effective. If you get close to something and it makes you feel funny, move away. Typically all that is happening is a temporary blip. The exception would be if you were standing right beside a huge 1,000KW generator when it turned on. You might not have time to get far enough away before you passed out if your heart is REALLY dependent on the PM.

Most of the non industrial stuff you get around will not cause anything but an extremely minor inconvenience. So don't drive yourself into having to take psycho-active meds from the worry. LOL

Best wishes - Dave

Thanks Dave.

by Caguy - 2012-09-02 05:09:30

The reason I asked was just Friday I had to show my helper how to change a 240 vote pedastal that powers a mobile home, all he had to do was change the breakers but it's not that easy when these peds are over 40 years old. You have to open the ped and remove the breakers and remove the wires and rewire them, sounds easy if you know what your doing but he never did it and I had to walk him thought the process and when we finished I got a call that the a/c didn't work and my helper already when home so I ask whats the problem and after he said part of his house was working and part not I knew what the problem was my helper pluged the outside plugs on the wrong sides and it did make a difference.So the owner swiched the plugs and all worked ok. I'm use to doing my own work and now I have to know what I can and can"t do so thank you for your information and will ask wed's when I see the Dr about what I can do and what I can't do. Heck I haven't typed this much since high school. Take care my friend. AL

Breakers

by Caguy - 2012-09-03 01:09:55

To turn off power I will have to turn of a hold line of houses because the power comes from a transformer with the numbers it supplys so for me I just have tobe careful when I do it . As long as I remove the breaker I can wire the new breaker outside the ped and then just put the breaker back in. Thanks AL

Changing breakers

by ElectricFrank - 2012-09-03 12:09:28

Don't you turn off the master power to the pedestal while doing the rewiring? If so there would be no current to affect the pacer. Actually, getting shocked is more likely to cause problems than just being near the panel.

Actually, though, it really isn't an issue. Recently I solved a problem with a bad relay on my 240V hot tub. I was using my voltmeter and clamp on amp meter with the circuits hot to find the problem. When I think about it I sit in the tub twice a day in a seat that puts me within 6-12" of the control box, motors, and heater.

frank

Changing breakers

by ElectricFrank - 2012-09-04 02:09:22

Yep, I know the drill. I've changed out 480V stuff hot, but that was back in my much younger years.

The wost one I experienced happen at home. I was changing out a breaker and had pulled the 100A main. About that time my wife asked me to run down town to get some food for lunch. I came back and decided to finish the job. The breaker wouldn't come out easily so I used a large flat blade Sears screwdriver to assist. The breaker case shattered and blew up in my face. Luckily I had safety glassed on as it left several pits in the lenses. About an half inch was missing off the screwdriver.

What I had forgotten was that I turned the main back on to give my wife power in the house, and then forgot about it.

When the breaker case shattered, my screwdriver shorted the mains side to the breaker panel. The whole thing didn't affect the 100A breaker.

So when my friends ask me if I've ever done any electric welding.......

frank

You know you're wired when...

You have a dymo-powered bike.

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