Repositioning complete!

• by islandgirl
• 2022-12-19 23:03:44
• General Posting
• 356 views
• 3 comments

My CRT-D was repositioned last Wednesday.  I was admitted by noon the day before for pre-op testing.  My nerves were through the roof....a normal reaction for me.  I was admitted into the CCU, and surgery was changed from 830 am to 11 am and then, 6 am Wednesday morning, they came to get me for 8 am surgery!  I was so nervous I didn't get much sleep and was ready when they came to get me, and staff seemed unaware of the schedule change.  The surgery turned out to be very complicated with the device very deep into my lower left breast....one of the most difficult displacements he had seen. The surgeon did take biopsies and continues to be interested in why my heart is doing what it's doing.  I suffered a pneumothorax, but it was resolving satisfactorily.  Pain was extremely intense and not managed (not sure if I was in recovery or where I was) for some part of the first day, with morphine and extreme nausea for much of the 2 days.  I finally asked for a med change late in the day Thursday so they switched to tramadol and tylenol, which allowed me to transfer to step down unit about midnight and allowed my release late Friday afternoon instead of Saturday.  I believe the surgeon told me he saw no pocket and I was very lucky my wires had not been damaged.  The pain I had been enduring since the original implant is actually gone.....the pain is different!  I am wearing a sling 24/7 until I see the surgeon the 27th and he assured me not to worry about my shoulder.  He placed the device under the pectoral muscle and stitched it down well so I will be able to get back to activities such as backpacking, kayaking and swimming (although he groans about damage to wires for me since I am totally dependent ("thin flimsy wires covered with plastic").  The bruising is unimaginable, and it is half way down my waste, under my left arm, down my left side, and  extending across my chest into my right breast.  Surgeon told me I would have swelling and pain for about 6 months.

 It's over, I hope I never have to go through this again. 

Masks were not required at this hospital, but most staff wore masks as well as I.  When they allowed me out of bed for PT late Thursday, I apologized as my mask was not replaced after surgery.  They gladly got me one and they were also wearing masks. They told me up until a couple of weeks before the employees were NOT permitted to wear masks and changed to leaving mask wearing to the discretion of the employee.  There is no testing.  Fortunately staff was wearing masks that were attending to me.  I'm still dumbfounded.  It is a hosptial I've never been a patient of, is even further from my house, and someplace I don't plan to seek treatment from again.

For anybody referring to this post for researching repositoning, my case was extremely uncommonly complicated.