Hi Everyone

Just thought I check in. I'm a 51 year old male living in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that was born with an AV block. I've been through 3 PM's and scheduled for a new one on the 1/7/14. This time the are going to replace one of the leads due to bad battery life, I'm only getting 50% of what I should be, which I assume because its pacing at 5 volts. Hopefully all goes well and I report back with no issues. Any suggestions or life experience with lead replacement would be helpful as I've never been through this. Thanks all !

7 Comments

New Leads

by Half_Human - 2014-01-07 06:01:20

Thanks Tracy. Makes me wonder why they capped it and not replaced it, especially since they are replacing mine. Oh well I feel I have one of the best Dr's in the biz so I'm going to trust him.. :o Thanks Tracy -LJ

new leads

by Tracey_E - 2014-01-07 06:01:34

We have similar histories! I also have CCHB. One of my leads was impeded and killed the battery life on my 3rd one also. I got less than 3 years out of it! I had a venogram (iv with dye in the cath lab) the day before to see how much room was in the vein. There was room for another lead so we just capped off the old one, added the new one on top of what was already there. If there hadn't been room, the choices would have been move everything to the right side or extract and start over.

leads

by Tracey_E - 2014-01-07 06:01:48

Taking the bad lead out is more complicated than capping it off. It requires a laser sheath and specialized surgery. Some drs automatically extract everything and start fresh when a lead needs replaced. Since I had room for a third lead and my atrial lead was still good, I chose not to extract at that time. I expect to outlive my current leads and would rather not go through extraction twice, so I put it off. Every dr and every situation is different. So, you are having an extraction?

leads

by Half_Human - 2014-01-07 07:01:58

Yes. The Dr recommend it. He stated it would have to come out eventually and felt, due to my age it was better to do it now. Hopefully this will be the last time I need something like this as well.

Its over

by Half_Human - 2014-01-12 02:01:52

All I can say is the Baylor Heart hospital in Plano is awesome. It almost felt like a like a vacation, almost..hehe.
The procedure took 4 hours with no complications. It took him an hour and half per lead to get them out and on one of the leads they had to leave a small piece in there. I had those leads since I first got my PM 3 implants ago. The Medtronics tech said he never even seen those type leads before. Said they were a fin type lead what ever that means. I knew they were messed up cause I could feel my heart beat, now I cant and it feels like its beating more efficiently. SO glad its over !!!

Half who is your doctor in Plano?

by debbie21 - 2016-02-17 03:02:48

Thanks for your help!

Half who is your doctor in Plano?

by debbie21 - 2016-02-17 03:02:52

Thanks for your help!

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