ripping leads out

Hi! I got a pm on 8/7. I am a pretty active person and am having difficulty with inactivity. I have to wear a sling a lot to keep myself from unconsciously using my left arm too much. I do take it off and do a lot of arm exercise every 1/2 hour or so.
I have forgotten a few times to wear the sling at night. Once, I was taking a shirt off with help and my arm got raised up by accident. I am not lifting anything with the arm.
My question is, at 18 days later, how should I be reacting to these minor accidents and what does it take to pull a lead out? I had a horrible surgery with sedation problems and I never want to have to do that again. Also, how long does it take to get all the swelling down. Thanks for any info.

3 Comments

ditch the sling

by Tracey_E - 2013-08-25 10:08:13

Most of us don't even bring the sling home from the hospital. It's important to move the arm, just don't lift anything too heavy (over 20#) or raise the arm above shoulder level. Other than that, move it normally so you don't get frozen shoulder. If the leads were going to come out, odds are it would have been the first 48 hours, the rest of the healing time is just precaution. An occasional mishap isn't going to cause problems, just don't head out to the golf course or hop on a roller coaster.

As long as you are otherwise healthy, you should be able to get back to aerobic exercise now. I started walking the day I got out of the hospital, added the recumbent bike a few weeks later.

Swelling, we all vary how bad it gets and how long it takes to go away. Ice or mild heat should help, try both and see which feels better. I had some fluid build up that caused swelling for a couple of months after one of my replacements (I'm on #4). I didn't think much about it but a nurse said try heat. The swelling was gone within a day, guess I should have asked sooner!

Pulling leads out

by donr - 2013-08-25 10:08:40

Welcome aboard, Dillon.

Fat chance of pulling out a lead from what you say you have done.

To give you a visual indication of what things are like in your heart where the leads are, just look at the incision - pretty well healed, isn't it? No blood oozing out of it, no openings in it. Well, the implant sites are about the same. Nearly 3 weeks later, you would have to become the star attraction on the flying trapeze in the Flying Wallenda's circus act to rip those leads out. Incidental, gentle raising the elbow above the shoulder won't do it.

Now - all this presupposes that the implant was done correctly. If you had an inept surgeon who does poor work, all bets are off - anything can happen. There's no way to really tell until you resume normal activity w/ that shoulder in a few weeks. Meanwhile, keep doing what you are doing. You REALLY don't need the sling at this point, but if you are a wild man & feel more comfortable wearing it to insure that you don't do anything outlandish, be my guest & wear the thing. I hope that the exercise you are doing keeps the elbow below the shoulder.

If you were to see an X-Ray of properly implanted PM & leads, you would see a lot of slack in the leads. More than you could ever pull out to finally put stress on the implant site, so relax & enjoy a hopefully new comfort because your heart is functioning normally again.

Don

Your getting close

by PacerRep - 2013-08-26 02:08:39

We tell people 3 weeks of limited arm movement. If you really want to play it safe 4 weeks. Excessive overhead movements (jumping jacks, water aerobics etc) I'd wait 3 months.

Sling is just a reminder to keep the arm down. If you are doing that without it, you can ditch it.

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