Day 28 -- Pacemaker reburial

• by atiras
• 2018-10-03 15:47:08
• Surgery & Recovery
• 1366 views
• 2 comments

So, I've just got back from the hospital where they 'reburied' my pacemaker (their term) -- i.e. relocated it to a new pocket closer to the medial line than the one from which in went a-wandering 16 days ago. Some wound pain, as I would expect, and another 7 days of driving/showering restrictions, plus they're a little worried about infection from re-opening the original wound, but I was firm with the consultant (who asked 'are you really really sure)' that I wasn't going to live with pain and numbness in my shoulder and arm and hand forever.

It was the same team who did the work that implanted the pacemaker originally-- they remembered me, and remembered how there had been problems with sedation and painkiller, so did something different this time (don't know what) that worked reallly well.  I also asked them to talk to me throughout the procedure explaining what they were doing, and that was really helpful as well.

A much better experience all round. Just need to watch out for infection now -- they did give me intravenous antibiotics before the procedure -- and if all goes well it won't affect the timetable for the AV node ablation.