Pacemaker Club: Acute bronchitis almost three months after implantation

Acute bronchitis almost three months after implantation

by feelmyfrequency11
2020-02-04 17:36:02
Complications
1269 views
3 comments

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right subforum. However, I posted for the first time a few months back before my surgery nervous and all.. update: the surgery went well. I was in pain, of course, for a couple weeks. It still feels uncomfortable depending on how I'm laying.

I currently am super sick. I got diagnosed with acute bronchitis yesterday and the doctor gave me antibiotics. I woke up several days in a row last week with a sore throat and a couple days ago I lost my voice completely. My chest feels heavy and it kinda hurts. No fever as far as I know. Coughing lots of mucus. I'm also seeing thick mucus and occasionally blood when I blow my nose..

My concern is this.. a month after my surgery, I went to the device clinic for a check up and they said everything looks good even my scar was healing "nicely". Shortly after I left.. I noticed clear liquid oozing from the wound and eventually saw pus. I couldn't make an appointment due to insurance needing a new referral. I haven't seen the doctor since. The pus went away on its own & the wound is now closed.

Please give me some reassurance. I'm worried that I'm experiencing late onset symptoms of a pacemaker infection. Is it possible to experience symptoms from an infection months later? Or should I just wait and see how long my cold/bronchitis last? Thank you.

3 Comments

PM Wound Infection

by AgentX86 - 2020-02-04 23:20:56

Puss indicates an infection. You might have gotten lucky and your body cleaned up the mess but do NOT take infections lightly. If you really do need another referral to have it checked again (dumb as all outdoors), go to a doc-in-a-box for a referral. ERs are for immediate emergencies (which this almost qualifies as but it's going to be expensive). "Immediate care" is cheap, particularly if you have insurance and they can refer you to the appropriate medical facility. Help them out and tell them where you want to go.

Bronchitis, itself, isn't going to cause your PM to become infected. It doesn't help, either, obviously,

I feel your pain WRT bronchitis. I got bronchitis the day after I came home from the hospital (wife got it in the hospital and passed it to me), after my CABG surgery. Needless to say, coughing was painful but sneezes brought me to my knees.

@AgentX86

by feelmyfrequency11 - 2020-02-05 12:53:18

There's only one hospital in my state that I'm recommended to go to as they're highly specialized in my specific conditions. I ran out of referral visits, so I was waiting for them to add more visits. I'll be making an appointmenr shortly once more visits has been approved.. which is a process.

I know bronchitis can't cause my pacemaker to become infected. I was more so worried it was the other way around. That I had an underlying undetected pacemaker infection and now I'm sick months later. I was just wondering if that was possible. Fingers crossed

You can't wait

by AgentX86 - 2020-02-05 12:58:28

If it is an infection in the pacemaker wound it is deadly serious. The leads are a conduit directly to the heart. It has to be looked at immediately if you even suspect an infection. Bronchitis is secondary.