Placement of pacemaker

I recently had surgery to replace my dual chamber pacemaker as the battery had expired. 8 years, not too bad. I am not so happy with the placement of my ticker :)! It's a bit higher than my last one, and there is a wire protruding and giving me discomfort. Anybody else experience problems such as this or of the like? My first pacemaker was placed to close to my collar bone, causing rubbing with my pacemaker, so I had to undergo a second surgey with that!

Please, anybody out there with this type of situation?

2 Comments

wire protruding?

by scpck - 2007-10-18 09:10:29

Hi I am such a new owner I'm not sure I'm totally qualified to answer. But til someone else comes let me ask you this. When you say wire protruding, where? Through the skin? That sounds wrong to me.

If you mean where it enters the vein below the collar bone I had that too. The swelling has gone away and the doctor said most people don't even have that amount of swelling.

At first my scar was lumpy and L shaped with that "wire look." Now it's only a thin line.

When I worked as a nurse, we'd use triple antibiotic ointment on people who'd had abrasions from skin meeting pavement: "road rash" so that's what I did with my incision. I think that really helped.

Good luck with a better response :)

Thanks for the response

by The Bunny - 2007-10-19 04:10:34

Thank you for responding! And to pawgles, I hope for a good outcome for you!

When I rec'd my pm the 1st time around I asked my dr if there was a support group, he thought I was joking! Thanks for willing to share your experiences! I am so excited about this website!

My incision is about 1/2" from my collar bone, practically vertical at a slight angle toward my underarm...not sure why they inital did the cut this way. The wire actually follows the scar, however, at the base of the pacemaker is where the wire is sticking out, not outside the skin, but the skin is very thin in that area. The replacement of the pm was done in early April, 6 months ago. I too used an antibiotic ointment to help in the healing. I kept hoping the sensativity in that area woud go away. As time goes on more discomfort or possibly I am less tolerable. Either way, I have decided I will pursue another surgey to relocate. I will not choose the same surgeon and wondering about how to handle to cost. I don't feel I should have to pay for another surgey to correct. I've tried to contact the surgeon the did the surgery, however, no return calls on my left messages! Any ideas?

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You have an excuse for gaining an extra ounce or two.

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