9 days out

Help! My husband is 9 days out from his pacemaker procedure and I can't convince him to be careful! Today I caught him lifting our 30 pound dog and yesterday he was dragging a cinder block across the patio. To make things a little dicier, he was diagnosed with blood clots in his arm 3 days ago and now on anticoagulants for at least 3 months. Does anyone know if anticoagulants affect or slow down the implantation process? Since the cardiologist is not the prescribing doctor of the anticoagulant, we've yet to be able to see him and ask the question. Thank you!

8 Comments

don't be crazy

by wjs1954 - 2014-03-01 01:03:04

And I thought I was pushing it. He needs to slow it down or at least I think he should. Agree with theknotguy want to be active just not foolish. Better to move forward in small steps than ending up taking a big step backwards.

9 days out

by pacemakergroupie - 2014-03-01 03:03:43

Thank you both for your words of concern and encouragement. I'm trying to be careful not to add to his already bruised ego, but I don't want him to jeopardize his progress. My biggest concern has been the blood clot complication so it eases my mind to hear your experience with the anticoagulants, theknotguy. Talking to doctors is informative, but not nearly as comforting as someone who has been there. Wednesday will be 2 weeks post PM, do you think he'll be ready for a 15 min walk around the hood? Container gardening? Sex?

In Case Of Trouble

by J.B. - 2014-03-01 05:03:21

Keep a record of all the things you know he shouldn't be doing. Then if he has trouble with a broken or dislocated lead you can show the dr. what he may have been doing. This could be a big assist to the dr in locating the problem or cause with the PM if he has one.

Have you read your Birth Certificate ....

by donr - 2014-03-01 05:03:50

....Lately? In the fine print, it says :

"As this is a female baby, if it grows to maturity & marries, it has an unlimited license to NAG. Such nagging will be applied to husbands & children. Further, said infant shall, as it grows older, develop an "Evil Eye" that will rival that of "Evil Eye Fleagle." However, said Evil Eye will be impotent on husbands, as they are too stupid to realize it is being used on them; it shall, if exercised properly, work well on children, with diminishing effectiveness as they enter their teen years."

If you cannot nag the crap out of him to make him tow the line & be smart, as Knot says, there's no hope for him. Just make sure he is well insured & get him a job as a tight rope walker.

Nagging is the province & prerogative of women only. Some men are more difficult than others - F'rinstance, it takes at least 6 women to keep me in line: Wife, 2 Daughters, 2 Nurses & the executive director of our local alumni society.

He was ready for the walk around the hood on about the third day; container gardening ditto - w/o using the PM side Arm; Sex? Didn't he have a private room in the hosp?

I was doing carpentry the third day post -op. Wife held boards in place & I drove the nails. Left arm hung useless. Yuo think a one-armed paperhanger has trouble - try holding a 8 ft 2X4 in place while nailing it when you only have one arm!

As to the coagulants & healing - my experience was that all they affected was initial clot time. The rest of the healing process went the same as normal.

Those clots would worry me, also. A piece of one of those breaks loose & it could wind up in a lung. Notr nice!

Donr

Clot loose

by Theknotguy - 2014-03-01 06:03:01

Forgot. You don't want a clot to get loose. However....

I had a blood clot in my heart due to a mess up by my cardiologist at the time. It left me in atrial flutter while they kept me on blood thinners to eliminate the clot. So the blood thinners do help during the danger period.

Got tired of sitting around the house worrying so I went back to work. Told the security guys I was OK as long as I was leaning against the wall. If I was on the floor, call 911. I didn't do any extreme exercise - couldn't - the atrial flutter made sure I couldn't. So I had minimal danger of the clot breaking loose. Besides, if it happened at home no one would know. At work there would at least be someone around to call 911.

Danger period for the clot is at least a month. In your case it's three months. For some of us guys we seem to be able to survive having a clot. Genetics and all that.

Had a friend at work. She was telling me about her dad. He liked to do aerobatics in his airplane. Had heart problems ended up in the hospital. Was told he had to give up flying the airplane. As soon as he got home, went up in the airplane and started doing aerobatics. Crashed the plane and died. Some of us guys would rather be dead than give up our lifestyle. Selfish I know, but that's the way some guys are.

Like I said, if he just did the activities once it's no big deal. Everyone forgets. If he makes a habit of it, not good.

My spouse was an executive secretary. She knows how to nag big time. I've had 40 years of it and the nagging doesn't work. Pointing out where my logic is flawed does work. I don't like it, but it does work.

Exercising is good. Walking is one of the best kinds of exercising. The human body is designed to move, not sit still.

If you can point out he only has a 90 day period and then he can get back pretty much to normal that may alleviate the need to overextend himself.

Because of the trauma I had my recovery period has been set at a minimum of six months. Against the entire length of my life that is a short time period. I've got two more weeks to go then they'll cut me loose. Can hardly wait.

But if I would have pushed it before the six month period I would have had setbacks and would have extended my recovery time. As it is I'm walking out of rehab stronger than what I was before the pacemaker.

Hope he can hold off for the 90 day period.

Theknotguy

If he wants to

by Theknotguy - 2014-03-01 12:03:36

Sorry, if your husband wants to ignore safety precautions there isn't too much you can do to stop him. However...

There is some wiggle room between the precautions and reality. They were telling me not to use my left arm (PM side) to lift myself up from the chair. Nor was I supposed to lean on my left arm. Unfortunately I had a cracked rib, busted rib, collapsed lung, and chest tube on the right side so I was running out of options. I ended up using the left arm a lot more than I should.

The result of that was my PM implant site and where the leads went into the vein were very sore. But I didn't tear out the leads, damage the PM, or anything else. The area did get sore, but I didn't damage anything.

The danger is pulling the leads where they leave the PM and go into the vein under the clavicle. No danger to the leads in the heart. Can the leads under the clavicle be pulled? Yes. However, the pain to the person usually prevents them from doing enough damage to pull the leads that hard.

I'm on blood thinners too. It won't make that much difference as far as healing is concerned. It may add two weeks to the overall healing process, but mostly everyone heals by six weeks post implant date.

I was lifting 90 pound 4x8 sheets and my cardiologist told me to wait 90 days before attempting to do that again. So at the far range 90 days would be another target date.

Lifting the 30 pound dog is more than the 10/15 pounds they want you to lift for the first 4/6 weeks. But everyone forgets and does something like that. Once shouldn't bother him. He just shouldn't do that every day or several times a day for the first 4/6 weeks. I threw a 40 pound package into the grocery cart. No one around and spouse couldn't do it. Hurt, but no lasting damage.

Depending upon which arm he used, dragging a cinder block across the patio shouldn't hurt either. Especially if he only did it once. Once again, shouldn't do that every day or several times a day.

If he was dragging the cinder block it kinda tells me he's figured out it hurts and is taking it a little easy.

Applaud him for being active. Encourage him to do non-dangerous things like walking. Remind him to watch using the arm on the PM side. Smile, grit your teeth, keep on going. It's much better he's active than just sitting in a chair.

Think of what he'll be doing after the six week period when he feels good.

Theknotguy

Moi???? A nagger?

by pacemakergroupie - 2014-03-05 08:03:09

Seriously, DonR, as naggers go, the hubby says I'm mild. I go for Knot Guy's approach more often than not...shower him with kindness and logic and the rest is his problem, but in 3 1/2 decades, health has never been an issue. Guess I was naive about the anti-coag drug. I assumed it wouldchelp dissolve the clot, but it is only in place to prevent any others from forming until the existing clot eventually gets reabsorbed. That's the best case scenario, so they say. Worst case a clot will travel, and somewhere in between his arm will stay hard as a rock with minimal venous return. It's been 2 weeks today and we walked 35 minutes with no problem. And no more worries about sex. Trust me, I didn't have to nag about that whatsoever!!

Definition of Nagging - ever....

by donr - 2014-03-05 09:03:22

....Hear it?

Simple. Nagging is:

1) True
2) Unpleasant
3) incessant
4) abominable timing (This is my add)

There is a fine line between Nagging & reminding someone to take action. It is really wrapped up in two of the items - No's 3 &4. The tone of voice makes a huge difference, as does the timing.

F'rinstance - right now I'm sitting here typing this. Wife walks in & brings up something I am supposed to do, but right now I'm engaged in writing this note. That is a royal PITA. All she has to do is catch me between activities & bring it up - that's reminding.

Personally, I really like getting reminders to do chores.

A simple, pleasant query "Have you taken your pills this AM?" when we are getting up from the breakfast table is appreciated.

Some men are pretty darned stubborn & need a bit more serious approach. Like a frank, no-holds-barred, discussion about what is happening & what your stake in the outcome is. That doesn't work? Not much to do. It's called an "Intervention."

Donr

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