New to the Pacemaker Club

The information I have read on this site has been really helpful to me in my rocovery. I had no idea that there was a "Pacemaker Club".

Due to Sick Sinus Syndrome, my natural pacemaker was failing, I recently had a PM implanted on 2/6/19. Today, was my 2 week anniversary. I am feeling remarkably good today.

The first week after my procedure was pretty brutal. I was in a lot of pain and was advised by the nurse to take Tylenol or Aleve. Since I wasn't put on a blood thinner, this worked out fine and took the edge off of my pain.

The incision site is looking good and healing well. I still have some pain in my left shoulder. It has been difficult to actually sleep on that side. I have been able to lay gently on that side but only for a few minutes.

Keeping my left arm from raising above my head has been tricky. I live in fear of going back to my doctor tomorrow and having him tell me that my leads have become unattached. Hopefully, things are going well there. I will find out tomorrow and give you an update.

Anyway, thanks to everyone and the great information you have available here. It gives me a lot of comfort, mentally.

2 Comments

Some things

by Theknotguy - 2019-02-20 22:00:06

Glad this site and the people on it have been helpful to you.  I know they were helpful to me.  

Some things from your comments.  

You may not be able to lie on your left side for a while.  It takes a while for your body to heal and your body to adjust to having a foreign object in it.  How soon that happens depends upon a lot of things.  Body type, how you react to pain, etc.  I had a lot of trauma prior to getting my pacemaker so it was years before I could lie on my left side.  But you shouldn't have that problem.  

You really don't have to worry about raising your arm above your head.  They leave an extra length of lead next to the pacemaker.  So you won't be able to pull out the leads just by raising your arm.  Previous discussions on this forum indicated you'd have to be in a very serious car accident to have a shock strong enough to dislodge the leads.  At which point you'd have a lot of other problems.  However your heart can dislodge the leads simply by its pumping action.  We haven't heard too much about dislodged leads in recent years on the forum so apparently the types of leads used and the procedures used for implanting them are much better than what we saw over five years ago.  So you really don't have to worry.  

You can still take Tylenol while on a blood thinner.  

Sounds like you have a good attitude about having a pacemaker so that should be a big help too.  

My best wishes for you.  
 

New to the club

by CR - 2019-02-20 23:50:11

I totally hear you on finding (& really appreciating) this "club". My pacemaker is a week older than yours and I share everything you said about sleeping & having the fear you're going to wreck things from the most innocent of movements. It's not amusing in any way but it sure was (& is!) refreshing to hear others have the same concerns. I can only say it so many times to my family & friends. :) Best of health to you!

You know you're wired when...

You have a $50,000 chest.

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I finished 29th in London in 2 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds which is my fastest with or without a device so clearly it didn’t slow me down ! I had no problems apart from some slight chaffing on my scar - more Vaseline next time.