Pain in armpit and left arm after pacemaker surgery

I had a pacemaker implanted on November 8.  The third wire became dislodged within 2-3 days and I had follow up surgery on November 20.  After the second surgery, I have swelling, tenderness and mild redness under my left armpit and down my left arm.  I have no fever.  I did the night I came home. It was 102.3.  Has anyone else experienced this after effect ?

2 Comments

give them a call

by Tracey_E - 2017-11-27 21:55:30

It's probably just two surgeries, but better safe than sorry, so I'd give them a call and tell them what's going on. They might want an ultrasound to rule out clots. 

It's normal to have a low fever right after a surgery. That's way too early for infection. If you get a fever now, then you want to pay attention. 

Details, please

by Hoosier Daddy - 2017-11-29 01:07:04

Swelling and tenderness as well as frank bruising near the device and over towards the left arm is normal. Because of the tissue planes, blood will track down lateral to your pectoralis even with a basic subcutaneous device. It will track down towards your axilla (armpit).

If, on the other hand, you are having significant swelling of your arm, especially involving the forearm and hands, a hypothetical concern is subclavian vein thrombosis (a clot in the blood vessel into which your leads were placed). Now, some degree of such swelling is normal - consider that the subclavian vein, which drains the blood leaving your arm, has just had several tubes placed inside of it, and this will alter the flow of blood for all of us. Imagine inserting a couple of spaghetti noodles into a drinking straw - imagine the impact that has on your ability to draw fluid through the straw. 

So if your hand is becoming blue, you need to get immediate attention. But some minor swelling around the site and into the armpit is virtually universal, and some degree of arm swelling involving the anatomy beyond the elbow - even with distended veins - is not uncommon.

Regarding a postop fever, surgery itself is a stimulus of inflammation and can cause a fever above 100.4 for the first day or two after our procedures. Infections don't typically manifest until after several days.

 

 

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