pacemaker freaky-deakyhttp://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif

[esvaja]

Hello,
I'm due to have my 1st AVR 4/6 ay CC. I've been following all of you faithfully everyday.
Steve was the 1st person I kinda fixated on, plus he's from Chicago(lots of relatives in Chicago) I live just outside of Ann Arbor.
Could someone inform me a bit more about pacemakers, I know they put in the wires after surgery just in case. What does it feel like when they're activated, once they're on can they be turned off & still taken out? If you do go home with them are they permanent?
I know none of this info I read about is supposed to freak me out, but I'm a freaker.
Last weekend I spent in the hospital because I got all stressed out & got SOB & my blood pressure was ridiculous (for me) 170/123.
I think I need to fixate more on what can go right. Help!
Daivahttp://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/images/smilies/eek2.gif

 

[kfay]

Hi...The temporary pacing wires you are talking about waking up with after surgery after different than the permanent pacer wires some people end up with. All of us have the temporary ones and you won't feel them pacing your heart with them if they do so. They will come out before you leave the hospital. The only thing you might feel that can feel a little freaky is a little tug when they pull them out sometimes.

If you need a permanent pacer, you won't see those wires, unlike the temporary pacer ones after surgery.

If you are that stressed out about all of this that you wound up in the hospital, I hope they gave you some xanax to get you through the next month. For a lot of us, the time leading up to this surgery was much worse than the actual surgery itself.


Kim

 

[esvaja]

Hello Kim
I'm on prozac already & the doc just put me on seroquel @ night as needed. Also I just went out for a pecan slide DQ for some stress relief. Last 2 caths showed my coronaries 100% clear, definitely something to be thankful for. I guess like everybody I've been following Steve's re-op, & was thinking it was going to be a cakewalk. Oh well I'm trying to chill.
Daiva

 

[Greg a]

I have an ICD (Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) it is a Defib as well as a pacer ....it will try to pace me out of trouble before delivering "therapy" ....I have been paced once and revived by shock twice and was not aware of any of the incidents but told about it by my EP at interogations of my ICD either in clinic or via "carelink" (a device on my night stand that transmits infornation when my medical team requests it of when I have an incident) so really my angel on my shoulder

 

[Mentu]

Daiva, it isn't just you. Most of us felt a lot of anxiety during those weeks before surgery. Like you, I sometimes focused on details over which I had absolutely no control. As Kim said, the pacing wires you will wake up with will be removed a few days after surgery and will probably never be used. We each go into AVR surgery with the possibility of waking with a pacemaker or as Steve has experience needing one shortly afterwords. There is a spot on the heart called the AV conduction bundle that is quite close to the aortic valve. If it is disrupted, then one needs a pacemaker. It is not something you can control so worrying about is of no benefit. It sounds as though your doctor is already helping you deal with the anxiety this experience is generating. Still, you might spend some time considering that the alternative to surgery is grim. Surgery is going to get you back on your feet and your recovery will get you back to living a normal life. It will just be a somewhat different future than you have imagined in the past. The bottom line is that you will be healthier and able to return to doing the things that are important to you. Welcome to VR, Daiva.

A book you might want to consider that I found helpful is:

Coping With Heart Surgery and Bypassing Depression: A Family's Guide to the Medical, Emotional, and Practical Issues

Larry

 

[Adrienne]

Felt a small twinge

Felt a small twinge

Hi. I remember the first or second day after surgery feeling a slight twinge (really nothing to worry about) in the heart area and asking the nurse what it was. She said it was the temporary pacemaker which kicks in if your heart goes under 50 bpm.

On day 5 (the day I went home), the nurse pulled out one of the pacing wires, but could not pull out the other. She asked for help, and the other nurse could not pull it out either. They just snipped it and left it in their and told me it is much safer to do that than to try to pull it out if it doesn't come out easily. I have subsequently read that this is a common practice when they can't get out a pacing wire.

 

[drivetopless]

I am 8 weeks post surgery for a "simple" AVR. No other procedures done. I had two little pace wires in my chest post surgery "just in case." They never needed to use them. They were implanted DURING the surgery, not after. They were the last things to be removed on the morning of the day I was discharged from the hospital. I honestly didn't feel anything when they were removed 4 days after the surgery.

I was also very anxious about all the tubes and wires that would need to be removed after surgery. My worries were unfounded. None of them hurt much at all when removed. Some were totally pain-free. I spent so much time pre-surgery worrying aobut the scar and possible pain from the tubes/stitches/wires. It really wasn't that bad. Hopefully, your experience will be similar.

If they are doing a simple AVR (no by pass or other procedures), you may be a candidate for a mini-sternotomy. My incision is only 2 5/8s inches long.