Pacemaker vs. heart surgery?

My 19yr. old cousin had open heart surgery when he was born back in 1995. He has been passing out lately and the doctors are telling him he needs a pacemaker. I am asking someone if they are in the same situation to please reply back to me and let me know if they feel a pacem,aker or heart surgery for the second time is needed? thank you, t.mundy

3 Comments

Pacemaker

by golden_snitch - 2013-12-11 01:12:01

Hi!

If he's passing out because of low heart rates and/or pauses, he needs a pacemaker. It's not unusual that congenital heart disease patients who underwent open heart surgeries develop a sick sinus syndrome or a heart block later on. Depending on his heart defect and the surgery that he had, the pacemaker will either be a normal pacer surgery (putting the pacemaker in a pocket under the skin, and the leads go into a vein and are then attached to the heart muscle inside the heart) that does not require open heart or it might require opening his chest again (for instance, if he had a Fontan surgery).

Best wishes
Inga

Sounds like two different issues

by Jax - 2013-12-11 01:12:20

I don't know why he had surgery originally
But a pacemaker is for electrical problems affecting the heart. I have pauses... I can go 5 seconds or so without a heartbeat and I felt dizzy and I passed out. The pacemaker that I have fills in the beats.

Yes

by Pacemum - 2013-12-11 03:12:24

My 13 year old daughter has had open heart surgery and is on her 3rd pacemaker. She does face more heart surgery in the future and will be paced for life.

The pacemaker surgery is a lot easier to recover from than the open heart surgery. My daughter is in hospital from either just the one or two days for pacemaker surgery. Obviously there will be a few restrictions with the pacemaker but your cousin should soon learn to adjust. Having the pacemaker should also help your cousin to continue to enjoy doing most things that young people of a similar age enjoy doing.

You know you're wired when...

You can feel your fingers and toes again.

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