Possible Infection after New Pacemaker

Sounds like a pocket infection - this is SERIOUS

by crustyg - 2020-08-04 03:24:14

You need to have cultures taken from any weeping from the PM pocket incision and put on broad spectrum IV antibiotics until the cultures come back.  An infection - and it does sound like an infection - is potentially life-threatening at the PM pocket as it can spread from the pocket to the leads and into the main veins to the heart: then you're dicing with death.

Get back to your EP doc ASAP, get them to inspect the wound, the pocket, take blood cultures and skin wound cultures and start those antibiotics.  You have no time to waste.

DOCTOR or ER ASAP!

by MissAshleigh - 2020-08-04 12:21:54

🚨 🚨 🚨 PLEASE please listen to crustyG!!! (A sentence I never thought I'd type 😂. No offense lol but the name!) TIME-SENSITIVE! Don't mess around thinking peroxide & Neosporin will do the job. That's one dangerous place for an infection to be! I'm not a medical expert but it sounds like an infection. With the details you provided, I'd be shocked if it's not infected!

If you can't physically go to your doctor due to covid, call them anyway, get to a *nurse or doctor* (but don't be mean to front desk – they're the gatekeepers) & tell them you need emergency services & ask which hospital to go to. Do not describe your symptoms & allow them to prescribe antibiotics over the phone- you need to be seen & probably cultured.

This is not a joke, this is not a drill, get to the ER! If your surgeon is affiliated with a hospital close to you, go to that one. They should have all of your records & your surgeon & his cardio team will be alerted.

Call the phone number for your device hotline & tell them, too. Sometimes they have good advice nobody else tells you.  

Please take care of yourself!!! It sounds like you've already been to the ER during this pandemic, but don't be scared to go back! (If anybody else is reading, it's not scary to go to the ER; covid patients aren't anywhere near regular patients.) 

Please update once you know more! Not to state the obvious, but the infection could be from the hospital, too. Even if that's true, you still need to go back!

Please, please be safe! You clearly care about your life because you got a pacemaker in the first place… So, get yourself back to the hospital!

Take Care & Good Luck,

Ashleigh

 

Infection after pacemaker Implant

by Karri - 2020-08-12 17:20:47

Hi,

Thank you so much for all of your replies!  I called my doctor as soon as I read the reply from  crustyg, and they got me in that day.  They said that I did have an infection,  but they never took any swabs, and they did an ultrasound to check for blood clots in the leads,  and there weren't any.  

Now it's been 3 weeks, the drainage is dark brown, and it looks just like a small hole,  the rest of the incision is shiny, but there is an area that I get drainage from some parts of that too. She was going to swab the drainage, but they couldn't find a swab. The whole area where the pacemaker is is very tender to even touch. I'm so nervous that an infection is growing in the pocket or under the incision and I won't know until it's too late.  I went to see my doctor and told her my concerns, she just put me on another week of antibiotics  (the same ones). I also told her that my feet,  ankles and shins were swelling up for some reason.

She then announced that I need to cut my nails! I was suprised because l just cut them, and they are really short, barely above the pink. I told her "No" I need them for the diapers/ tabs, and little ones stickers. 

And then she asked me if I washed my hands before I changed the bandage! I have a small in home daycare!  There is COVID going around!!  Yes, I always wash my hands for everything.  I was so suprised that she treated me like a child. She is blaming me for the infection. I don't want to go back to her, I feel like she is missing something.  And it terrifies me.  Thank you for reading this,  I don't mean to get so upset, I'm just so frustrated.