i might have moved my pacemaker -- and now it hurts

I was pretty close to being dead -- my heart was stopping, once I woke up about a foot above the floor, I had convulsed.  My heart had stopped, my body convulsed in an attempt to restart it, and as i said, I was a foot or so above the floor, headed down fast!, when I woke up.

All of this is ancient history since I've had my Boston Scientific pacemaker installed -- it saved my life.

Not one event of this kind and my health generally has been much better. 

But a few days ago I think I injured the area where my pacemaker is installed.  Several sharp pin-pricks, lot's of brusing, moving is painful in that area.

All bad news.

Now my question:

What can be done?

Is second-time surgery a good option?

I need answers.

 

 

2 Comments

ice

by Tracey_E - 2019-08-06 09:03:12

Do you have a home monitor? If so, send a download and let your doctor know it's coming. It can't hurt to make sure everything is pacing as it should be.

The pacers are a lot tougher than we are. You more than likely bruised up the scar tissue around the box, not the box itself. Ice should help. If it doesn't get better, if it's really bugging you a few months from now, then relocating it is a consideration. But I've done this a handful of times, and it's always healed up just fine! 

My Pacer popped loose

by FirstDuely - 2019-09-05 02:01:17

I don't know what you've had done over the last month but I just got back on the site after a few years not paying attention.  Here is my recent experience if it helps:

I've had pacers (9 I think) for over 33 years, since I was 36.  AND I''m now 69 and still traveling and just enjoying family, friends, experiences, and life.  

 I do lots of things to stay in shape including long cycling rides.  I believe it is my job to wear out the batteries early.  I've also had leads crack, get replaced, and have had my pacer location changed from left to right side of my chest.  Last September, while traveling by train from the north of England to London, I lifted baggage into and out of trains.  I felt the first stitch from a July, 2018 implant of a new pacer pop with a pin prick pain that went away briefly and was then very sore.  A few days later it happened again.  Now my pacer was displaced and looked like it would break through the skin.  So I called my doctor in Burbank and they said to stop by when home again.  I did.  I had another surgery immediately with the result that my pacer is now below my chest muscle, something that the doctor doesn't do often.  But I have so many cut marks it makes my skin very thin.  Yes, it is never fun to go into surgery.  But if it is needed, get it done and get back to living your life.  I, like probably everyone else here, worry about how long I'll be alive and what that little extra pulse I just felt was about and should I really be riding 65 miles today with my friends on this super hot day.  But I do it and I again prove that the pacer works fine but my brain wants to argue about the details.  

Whatever you do, make sure you discuss things that bother you with your pacer people.  They are the saints who never get enough thanks for what they do.  

Gary N. in Hemet, CA

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