Biventricular Pacing - How long in hospital ?

[rufus]

Hi All,

Well after 18 months of not feeling great my cardiologist has stated i need biventricular pacing as my ejection fraction is low and i have lbbb. I had avr dec 2007 so not as worried about this operation and am hopeful for a new lease of life and energy.

However i have been informed that the surgeon is happy to do the procedure without lowering my inr. Having read through previous threads i am aware this does happen sometimes however does anyone have any idea how long i would roughly spend in hospital ? Operation is scheduled for next friday (16th dec), 40 yrs old - no other health problems. Just want a few ideas and whether i need to bring forward my organising for xmas !!

Cheers

 

[Adrienne]

My hubby got a pacemaker in May 2010. He stayed in the hospital exactly 23 hours after the procedure.

 

[epstns]

I can't speak from personal experience, as my pacemaker was implanted while I was still in the hospital following valve surgery. I can tell you that many patients have pacemakers implanted as outpatient procedures, and without complications, most of the rest go home the next day. It is a short procedure and not "major" surgery.

They will give you instructions as to how much you can move or use your left arm for the first few weeks after the implantation. This will be to ensure that the leads they install have a good chance to build scar tissue to hold them in place. This is important -- don't over-do it and don't over-extend your arm, lest you dislodge a lead and have to go back and have it replaced.

Also, don't expect 100% relief immediately following the pacemaker implant. Some do seem to be 100%, others, like me, need to have some of the adjustments tweaked a bit to get maximum benefit. It is an ongoing process. I've had my pacer for 9 months now, and the settings have been changed twice. They do this with a sensor they place on your chest over the pacer, and change things with a computer. With each new change in settings, I've felt better - more exercise tolerance, more self-pacing, etc. It is all good. The pacemaker is a godsend, and the only "problem" I've had with it is that I have to adjust the seatbelt in the car so that it doesn't press or rub on the pacemaker. A minor price to pay for the benefit of the pacer.

Good luck. It really isn't that bad at all.

 

[LJM]

My dad just had a pacemaker Nov. He was in hospital for 2 days. He is 67 years old. He is home & doing fine.

Good luck,

 

[Debster]

My mom's bivent pacer has helped her so much! Much more energy and brought her EF to the normal range. Steve is right-it may take awhile to get tweaked-but heck this baby has helped mom big time! Best wishes to you! Deb

 

[Julian]

Big ups on the tweaking issue. Just had my pacer tweaked last week after the cardio put me on a treadmill stress test. He had my heart rate up to 181bpm then back me off. Said everything looked great. I told him I was convinced the rate response on my pacer was kicking in when it wasn't needed, I also complained that at 4:30pm everyday my pacer did something that made my heart flutter for a few seconds kinda like a PVC feeling, he kinda laughed and made a comment about me being very observant. I kinda felt like he was patting me on the head. I went to the pacer clinic after and they turned off rate response and turned off some status checking options and now my heart doesn't race for no reason and I don't get the PVC/Flutters at 4:30pm everyday... Yay! I'm still convinced the pacemaker can still be tweaked a bit more, I still experience and early heart beat at times from breathing in deep sort of a beep...beep...beepbeep...beep and they caught it on the monitor during cardiac rehab and state the pacer caused it, but I will give it more time at the settings I have set now. Basically its a game of tweak and wait.

I shared all the above because, for me the implant was easy, the 3 months after was annoying because I had to be extra careful with letting the leads set in. But worse than all this was dealing with adjusting settings on the pacer, a lot of tweak and wait. OH AND SOMETIMES I HUG SOMEONE AND MY SKIN GETS STRETCHED WHERE THE PACER IS AND THAT CAN HURT. :thumbup:

 

[rufus]

Hi all,

Thanks for all you comments - helpful info ;o). Anyway they brought my op forward to last friday (9th) - i am now back homw albeit a little stiff and sore. No major complications although i did have a small pneumothorax - 2nd xray done and no enlargement noted so should disappear on its own.

The heaviness / numbness in my leg have gone ;o) - so strange senstaions going on with my beating but as mentioned above i think there a bit of tweaking to be done. No probs at all being on warfarin inr was 2.5.

I'll update again soon - still a bit all over the place at the min but wanted to let people know im grateful for their comments.

Cheers Ruth