Lead punched a hole in heart

• by ILoominatedEKG
• 2012-08-21 05:08:12
• Batteries & Leads
• 1776 views
• 4 comments

I have been complaining about inordinate chest pain since the second day after implantation. They did some EKG"s (which all looked beautiful), took some xrays, ran a stress test (treadmill and myocardial perfussion), and told me everything was fine.
It wasn't until I threatend to remove the PM with a box knife and vice grips that they got serious. They called in the medtronics tech and made some adjustments, to stop my diapragm from beating with my heart, but the cardiologist decided to get a CAT scan just to rule out a few other concerns like fluid or blood in the chest cavity.
It was then he figured out the ventricle lead had pierced my heart and was sticking in my diaphragm (maybe that's why it beat like my heart!). So now they have to pull the lead in a thoracic OR and hope it clots quickly. If not, they have to open my chest and stitch the hole. Plus, they have to install another lead somewhere else in my ventricle.
It really bugs me that he tried to act like it's my fault becuse I didn't wait a month before driving. But then, he's probably just doing a CYA because of all of the blood sucking lawyers out there. The driving ban is actually more for others welfare; it's just in case something goes wrong and you have a cardiac event behind the wheel.
This has really been a gold star day. But hey, at least I have good health insurance!