Swollen area above pacemaker

Hi, I am 34 years old and had my 1st pacemaker replacement operation in January. Since then everything has been going pretty much ok except for some swelling around the incision area around April that did not last for over a week. For the last 2,5 weeks the incision area of the pacemaker has been painful and swollen. As of today the area is in fact very swollen but it is not painful. My doctor did a blood test last week and noted that as my CRP levels were bellow 1, there was no sign of an infection. He mentioned that it might just be an accumulation of fluid but he could not verbalise the reasons for that happening 9 months after the operation. Has anyone had a simillar experience or know anything about this?

7 Comments

Swollen Area

by bjmcpherren - 2007-09-18 07:09:40

My 1st pacemaker (30 years ago) I had a swollen pocket over my pacemaker which turned out to be a staff infection on the pacemaker. It was sometime after the surgery but not 9 months later. Until you find out what it is keep your eyes out to make sure the area does not increase in size, mine actually got a puss pocket that kept getting bigger - also you might take your temperature from time to time. It took a while for the doctors to find out what was going on with me, it started off sore in the area but they couldn't find anything. Ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks. Best of luck to you.

Swollen Area above pacemaker

by yannis - 2007-09-19 02:09:04

Thank you very much for your reply bjmcpherren- I have been told to do exactly the same but it is just so inconvienient to have the pocket so swollen and for quite some time now. At least if I had some temperature or the area was warm then I could make some sense out of it... but no its just very swollen. Hopefully I will found out soon enough.

Swollen Area above pacemaker

by yannis - 2007-09-19 02:09:59

Thank you very much for your reply bjmcpherren- I have been told to do exactly the same but it is just so inconvienient to have the pocket so swollen and for quite some time now. At least if I had some temperature or the area was warm then I could make some sense out of it... but no its just very swollen. Hopefully I will found out soon enough.

Swollen area on pm

by Heather H - 2007-09-20 04:09:41

My 6 yr old son has a swollen area on his pacemaker. It came up about 3-4 weeks ago. His pm is in his tummy. At first the area was red, swollen and painful but after 2 rounds of antibiotics and warm compresses it is now just swollen. I am currently waiting to hear from his Doc about what the next move is. They thought his may be a cyst and it may need to be cut out. He has had this pacer for almost 6 years and is due for a new one now. I am VERY concerned about this.
Sorry I'm no help. Hope you feel better soon.
Heather

BEST WISHES FOR YOUR SON!

by yannis - 2007-09-21 11:09:23

I am so sorry to hear that such a young boy should go through this ordeal. The good news is that being a young patient you get full consideration from the physicians. I had my first one relatively young so I know that you get this extra something from the doctors. Let's hope that everything will be fine. Should the boy raise temperature take it to the hospital at once.

good luck...and let us know of the good news when this is over!!

Swollen

by cryssg_2000 - 2007-09-24 04:09:09

Our daughter experienced swelling (the site was the size of a baseball) a month and a bit after her last pm surgery (also her 1st replacement). What I also noticed, was her veins in her left arm and chest were bulging and pulsing. After a call to the ermergency cardiologist on call we were instructed to go to our local ER (which we did) and they drew blood to see if she had an infection (which she did not). We had to take her to the heart centre the following week (this all happened on a Labour Day weekend), and they told us they did not know why the site was swollen. There was some cock and bull story between the Dr.s about her playing her violin that caused it (she hadn't been healed enough from the chest bleed and excessive loss of iron to even practise all summer). When I asked about draining the site, I was told since it's not an infection, lets not put the risk of creating one by that procedure. When asked about the viens, was told they had collapsed and that smaller veins would take on the effort of bloodflow. Eventually the accumulation of "fluid" did settle down. Hopefully the same will happen with yours. A lot of these issues have no answers and you just have to take each day as it comes. All the best!

DAHL2

by dahl2 - 2016-01-15 01:01:23

Anything NEW? I have the same problem now. I am 85 and my pacemaker was put in 09/01/2015

Doctors say nothing is wrong.. Help ??

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