First Follow Up

It's been 4 days today since the placing of my Bos.Sci. pacemaker. I had a first follow up today and my Dr. and he said the surgery site looked great.
I was not sent home from my PM surgery with any kind of pain meds. I usually am not a fan and didn't think I'd need them until last night .I had the worst pain I've had in a long time in all of my neck and shoulder muscles. I've only really used the arm sling to sleep in. I think the heavy duty wound tape they stretched so tightly against my incision site was really effecting all of the surrounding muscle groups. I think they were initially concerned with bleeding after my surgery because my INR was at 3.1 , so they stretched that tape really tight.
Speaking of INR, my local cardiologist was pretty surprised that the surgeon left me on my Coumadin and didn't put me on Heparin. Probably resulted in a little more bleeding than usual. I was all for it too because it probably cut down on another overnight bill from the hospital.
The Dr. checked my PM function and said everything looked totally normal. He did lower the voltage on my ventricular firing because it was making my diaphragm react. It seemed to correct the issue. He will see me in a week to remove the staples. (making it 12 days post surgery) He wants me to take some pain meds as necessary to keep movement in my arm. Thanks for listening,the beat goes on, Eric

2 Comments

Hi Eric

by TalkinCardio - 2012-09-04 07:09:02

My EP also kept me on my Coumadin for both of my PM surgeries and there were no problems with excessive bleeding. They took the tight bandaging off me the day after surgery. I was glad of that. I can see where it could cause pain in you neck and shoulder. Sounds like you are coming along well.

Take care, Cathy

Doctors Are Soooo Different ~

by Carolyn65 - 2012-09-05 12:09:27

The heart doctor told me He could do the PM Boston Scientific placement w/o anethesia (sp?) and let me go the same day and/or have the anethiesia and spend the night in the Heart Hospital ~ I 'copped' out and spent the night in 2009.

The heart doctor told me before surgery not to let anyone put me in a sling when I came out of surgery. He said my arm/joint would 'freeze' up and would call for lots of therapy and alot more problems for me. When I woke up in my hospital room, I had a sling on my arm and my Dr. walked in ~ He immediately removed the sling himself and told me to take it home for a souvenier.

After surgery, the hospital started me on Heparin, then sent me home w/several shots of Heparin to give myself over a few days ~ OUCH! I am not a nurse, but I sure did bruise my own self on my stomach fat w/those lil' needles of Heparin. I went back on Warfarin for a couple of years, then last December, I started taking the Pradaxa pills ~ sooooo much easier for me ~ don't have to drive 30 miles a week/month for blood tests for the Warfarin/Coumadin. It always bothered me that the Warfarin was referred to as 'rat poison' ~ YuK!

I was sent home w/o pain meds on a Friday eve. I called 'the Dr, on call' Saturday morn and would have begged for pain pills ~ did so much better the next few nights. I only needed them at night. I slept on my opposite side b/c I can not sleep on my back

I just do not know where/why you had bruises and hurt so bad in other places. W/i 2 weeks, I was still some sore, but could sleep on both of my sides, etc. I was told not to lift over 5 lbs. for a few weeks,

Listen to your own body and do what it tells you and stay in touch w/your Dr. Keep us posted, please.

Sure hope you get a 2nd opinion and/or get better soon,
Carolyn G. in TEXAS ~ TEXAS needs RAIN ~

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