Home from the Hospital....

• by swilson10
• 2007-05-22 07:05:05
• Surgery & Recovery
• 2205 views
• 4 comments

I wanted to let you know that I am home from the hospital in Burbank and have had quite a week. Let me start by reporting that I had lead extraction and pacemaker replacement due to multiple problems with my PM since the initial implantation in April 2005. This surgery was done by a wonderful physician that I would highly recommend if anyone is in need of this procedure. There was one very serious complication which was that I went in to a late stage cardiac tamponade (SP?) in that my heart was collapsing from the blood building up and surrounding the heart hours after surgery. I am wondering if this has happened to anyone else following heart surgery and if so what was your experience. I have been placed on two medications for the next 10 days that seem to have miserable side effects. The medications are Sotalol HCL and Indomethacin. If anyone is taking these meds and has had stomach, neck or other pain and found a way to relieve that please let me know. Finally, I have the newest St. Jude model pacemaker the Zephyr (sp?) and it seems that already the settings and functioning are so much better than my other model. I will keep you updated on that as well since apparently there are very few people who have been able to get this model as of yet. Have a wonderful day and always thanks for the support. Shanna

By the way I am on medical leave for the next few weeks so as I continue my recovery I hope to be able to be more active in the club since my time will be much more available. Keep up the great posts.!