Surgery 2/24/2015

I had my surgery last Tuesday and am surprised at the amount of pain I am having. They did an AV Node Ablation and implanted the pacemaker in my left shoulder area. They did not have to go through my groin for the ablation but did it through the pacemaker pouch. My EP said that it is rare that they can do this but it does simplify the process and takes at least 1 hour off the procedure.

My Question is, could doing the ablation through the pouch have increased the amount of pain I am experiencing? The paid has decreased but I just feel it should be less than it is at this point. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks.

2 Comments

Pain

by Artist - 2015-02-28 08:02:46

Post surgical pain is usually a common experience that often is a surprise. In my case, all of the talk about the PM implant being a relatively quick and easy procedure using just a local anesthetic, resulted in me being surprised by the pain. When they sent me home with a supply of pain medication, that was the first clue. During the operation, the surgeon really pressed very hard on my chest when he was trying to get the PM in the pocket and had to cut some more before it would fit. If you look at some of the photos posted by members you will see a lot of very visible bruising and swelling. This should slowly start to lessen. If it doesn't, the possibility of an infection is a serious concern especially if there is drainage, fever etc. The amount of pain varies from person to person. In my case it was significantly less at the two week point, but even now at 3 1/2 months post op I often sleep with heat on the surgical site. It is commonly reported that the pain and discomfort makes sleeping on the pacemaker side difficult. In view of the pain that is common for just a PM implant, it seems very likely that doing the ablation through the pouch would add to the irritation and trauma to the surgical site and cause increased pain. Hopefully someone with that same situation can share their first hand experience with you. I have read comments from members stressing the benefits of drinking plenty of water and icing down the painful area. Some recommend heat. I hope that your pain begins to lessen and that you feel better soon. I too was surprised by the amount of post surgical pain and the lingering discomfort caused by having my implant so close to my shoulder. Inspite of that, I feel very grateful for receiving this miraculous device.

Shoulder Heart Cath ??

by donb - 2015-02-28 09:02:29

After years of pacemakers in both left & right chest areas I have my 6th pacemaker in my lower right abdomen. AS I've had a number of heart Caths done through my groin & also 1 heart stent I've been concerned getting my next heart cath through my left shoulder. I was told by my Cardiologist that it's even less invasive than the groin route.
As I had reconstruction done to my left chest & also a big worry is the idiot Plastic Surgeon clipped my original pacemaker leads partially in the vein. The only way for extraction is open heart surgery so they're probably stay there for life.
As I've been doing great with my groin implant with new leads I I'm concerned about doing a cath with the old leads grown in.
Any Ideas ???
DonB

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