Biventricular ICD Implanted and Performing Well!

Greetings All,

Just a brief message of introduction. I'm a long-term CHF patient with a mechanical aortal valve and was recently diagnosed with LBBB. I had a Medtronics Biventricular ICD implanted a week ago and have have stellar results so far. My QRS was 180ms before the implant so I was very aware of my heart rhythm.

The procedure went well under conscious sedation. You have have this upcoming don't worry as you will be very relaxed and the time will pass very quickly from your perspective. I have good memory of the beginning of the procedure and then it just seemed to be over in an instant.

After implant I am barely aware of my heart beating. I have to listen for the sound of my mechanical valve ticking to know what my heart rate is. My electrophysiologist was able to get fantastic placement on my LV lead with great conductivity, so my ICD is currently using only 1.5 volts for pacing (they start at 4 volts after implant and lower it as they can based on conductivity). Hopefully this will translate into longer battery life down the road.

My biggest complaints so far are some post-surgical bruising from blood pooling (I'm on Coumadin because of my mechanical valve which makes this worse) and shoulder pain. The pain seems to be a natural reaction to the body of having the ICD pressing on the pectoral muscle and the post-surgery immobility and it seems to get better over time and I'm able to move my arm more.

For those facing a Biventricular ICD implant I would say take heart (wink) and don't worry. This particular ICD technology is the most likely to make a difference in your day-to-day well-being. I'm back to walking 2+ miles per day less than a week after implant with no more shortness of breath or light headedness.

2 Comments

Tick-tock

by tmuna - 2012-04-19 10:04:09

Hello, It will be a month yesterday that I had my ICD and pacemaker implanted, and all seems well. At times I get creeped out knowing I have this little piece of metal in my chest. When I saw my doctor for steri strip removal,he asked for complaints I might have. Biggest concern was sleeping on my left side. I was told that my body would let me know, it did and now I'm back on left side. Another thing the doctor said was that the device was like a pendulumand hade some movement. Well talk about odd feelings,when I wake up I can actually feel device moving and throuhout the morning also get a visiual of it moving back to the "normal position". I also was concerened about the brusing secondary to Comadin therapy. I was in the hospital for 5 days because my INR would not be consistent,and the discomfort at times I still have relieved with Tylenol. It's nice to know that there are others, who can share how they are doing. tmuna

The Same

by elle415 - 2012-05-10 05:05:22

Wow, mlbelanger and tmuna! I am 2 days post op...your posts are EXACTLY what is going on with me! Incredible! My INR was acting up prior to implant, so I was admitted. My bruising is very bad and my doctor used surgical glue to close my incision, so it looks horribly swollen and wet, but it's dry. It makes me nauseous to look at it! Yee. But, I felt better immediately after implant. I could finally breathe and had more energy. I've had heart failure for 12 years, so long I didn't know what a regular heartbeat felt like. I have shoulder pain, stiffness and burning. That's a drag. I am glad to meet others like me! I am very pleased. I was so anxious and scared.

Thanks for reading and continue to heal--
Elle

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