lead #2 of my icd device not working

• by georgeazarmitchell
• 2014-03-30 08:03:49
• Complications
• 1169 views
• 1 comments

I am posting this information so that maybe it will save another needless pain and suffering .I had my ICD device implanted while on a 3 day vacation to Jekyl island near Brunswick ,Ga.
I was taken to the emergency room at local hospital due to my rapid heartbeat 225 beats per minute .After they shocked me successfully to get my heart back to a normal rhythm .this was done very easily and quickly .It was then recommended that I have an ICD device implanted in my chest before I returned to our home in Atlanta,,Ga. so I gave the ok. and the next day it was implanted .I thought all went well but I was mistaken !! I was released the next day and my wife of 42 years drove us home .On the road I experienced a sharp pain near the upper area of my diaphragm ,the pain was bothering me all the way home ,so when we arrived home I called the Dr.who did the surgery Dr Watkins .he advised me it was due to normal post operative pain he explained .so I bought his evaluation ,but next day my pain a shooting pain at the top of my diaphragm became unbearable when I walked or move even slightly .a few days later I went to the V/A Medical center near my home where I am treated by my primary care physician Dr.Taylor .I called her and she told me to go to the emergency room at the V/A and have it checked so I did . They discover that my lead # 2 had punctured my heart wall and it was not functioning at all .It took the technician a matter of minutes to make the diagnosis .I was then admitted and the heart surgeon Dr.Blum cut open my previous wound and then proceeded to take the inoperative lead # 2 and reattach the lead to another part of my heart wall .You know doctors they won't bad mouth another doctor .Now consider this fact, after my surgery in the Brunswick hospital the ICD was x-rayed and found to be fine ,but it wasn't ..The hospital there failed to hook me up to a monitoring device that would confirm the device was working properly BEFORE I WAS DISCHARGED ,this was not done .I endured a great deal of unnecessary pain by having to get it done a second time .all this could have been prevented by simply checking the ICD to make sure it was operating correctly before I left the Brunswick hospital .Should anyone experience and unusually pain have your device checked out immediately by a device that monitors the ICD .If they had done this I would have not had to get it done a second time .I hope this helps someone avoid the unnecessary pain that I experienced .