Had pacemaker surgery 3 weeks ago

@brhendo
Can give you my personal experience of this. I am on my 3rd ICD/Pacemaker, so I have had 3 surgeries. The first is always the most painful and longest to heal.

Just remember, like any surgery, you are going to have soreness and pain. In addition, you have a foreign object now in your chest. What the body does is sees it as a foreign object and will encapsulate it. That takes time. But when it does it forms a type of collagen type tissue around it which will then decrease the feeling and soreness.

I was told my by EP that it takes about a year to get used to your first ICD/Pacemaker. It probably feels like you have a splinter in there. But after 3 surgeries I know my body will encapsulate it and most likely me your soreness and awareness it is there will go away.

Did you have yours put under your skin? Depending on how much skin you have there will determine how much it can be seen, soreness, etc. Mine was put under my chest muscle. My EP saud I did not have a lot of skin in that area and he also wanted more protection for it as I am very active exerciser.

Remember to follow your surgeons after surgery care about movements of your arms, and staying away from electrical devices.

Just give body some time to encapsulate it and most like your soreness will go away. All of heal at different rates so can't tell you how long but it does get better every day you don't irritate it. Don't get in a habit of touching it or pushing on it. Try not to have any outside pressure being put on the area of your Pacemaker. Also watch the way you sleep and try to find a comfortable position that does not irritate your pacemaker area and allow your body in that area to heal.

Once it encapsulates it will get much better and after 3 surgeries that comment comes from personal experience.

Thanks for your response much appreciated!
I to am very active biking walking golfing lifting dumbbells ect. So definitely have reservations about being able to do everything I want to do like before.

I have had two implants. After a year, you will forget it is there.
In the meantime…
Take it easy with exercising and stretching that area. Things are healing. Let it happen.
Stay alert for swelling, redness, or excessive warmth that could indicate an infection.
Good luck !

@brhendo
Just asked your surgeon or if you have a PACE Clinic asked them about restrictions on arm movements and electrical devices.

I don't know what kind of leads put in whether static or screwed in. Also most new ICD/Pacemakers are MRI compliant and much more protective from electrical devices and magnets.

My first ICD/Pacemaker my EP said go back and play tennis. My Pacemaker tech said no don't do that. She warned about tennis and fishing. Anything with drastic quick movements of arms. Well went back to playing tennis (was quite an avid player) and the first pacemaker check after surgery my left lead (that goes to LV) came out and was not working.

Had to have surgery to put the lead back directly on heart and remove the one that came out. So I quit playing tennis after that. I then picked up Sprint Triathlons. Some asked about swimming. I swim very smooth and restrict my left arm and have had no issues when Pace Clinic does check on wires and have been doing them since 2017.

You mentioned golf so just talk to your surgeon and pace clinic. My first LV lead was not put in the spot EP wanted to put it because of veins. The next time he put a new one in my LV he was able to get it where he wanted as Boston Scientific had newer thin wires making it much more easier to get wires in.

You can always go on web site for your manufacturer of your device. They may have information there but most likely will refer you to the surgeon who put it in.

@art43
Excellent advice art43

The year seems to be the magic time for body to get used to it being there. The year time frame was what my EP said would take for me and my body to get used to having it.

I do have to sometimes remember it is there when I start doing things with my left arm and in and around electrical devices.

Thank you

I'm in a similar situation in that I just had a Medronic Azure pacemaker implanted last Friday (4 days ago). I have a a 2 for 1 heart block which resulted in me having to go to the ER because of a heart rate in the low 30s! I have a follow up meeting with Mayo's pacemaker team this Friday. Do you know what they will cover and do? And do you have any suggestions as to what to ask?
Thank you and good luck on your new lease on life!
Ted

IF you have Mayo you are in great hands. Which Mayo are you at? I am at Mayo Jacksonville and on my 3rd ICD/Pacemaker.

Your pace clinic is going to be checking wires, and looking at your recordings to find any discrepancies and adjust them. They will be running test on your device. They may speed up your device to make sure it is working properly, etc.

They may do some fine tuning of programs.

You are still in recovery from surgery. They will be looking at your surgery site and any signs of infections, etc. Be sure to asked them about arm movements and restrictions they are recommending.

If you have an exercise mode on your device asked them about that. I had my turned off due to issues it was causing. You may want to discuss with the rate of pacing you are getting and if that is okay for your lifestyle.

Did they set you up with the home monitor? That is how I do my inbetween pacemake tests in person as I have a remote device at home where they send my recordings to Mayo. If I have any episodes I can do a manual remote to Mayo and they can look at it for causes.

If you have not been set up with a home remote asked about it.

Thanks for the input. I'm at Mayo in Phoenix. It's an incredible complex. Yesterday they covered the things you mentioned, i.e. removed my bandage (healing is going well), ran some tests and gave me some info about the battery and pacing. My battery is still in what's called an "initializion mode" so I really won't know about battery life until my 6 week check in. Since I have a 2 for 1 heart block I expected my ventricular pacing to be near 100%. So I was delighted to learn that it was 79%. Granted it's only one week of data but at least it was good news. I asked if they could increase the upper limit of 140. The RN bumped it up to 145. This gives me some extra cushion for when I exercise more vigorously. I did received a monitor and it's obviously working. She (RN) told me not to worry about traveling with it if my trips were under a month. When it comes to adjusting to having a pacemaker, psychologically I'm grateful to have it. Activity-wise I'm still learning. For example, yesterday I had to climb a flight of stairs. My heart rate shot up to 125 and I was out of breath. I hope that's a reflection of having lost most of my cardio fitness and not a pacemaker issue I have to live with. If so, I have to come up with a way to walk up stairs more efficiently. Given that you're on your third pacemaker you have a lot of experience. I appreciate you sharing some of yours with me.
Ted

@ted3
Ted,
Glad to share. My first ICD/Pacemaker goes all the way back to 2006. That was way before MCC came on line. I learned to asked a lot of questions and also use the web site of my device manufacturer.

Walking up stairs after not exercising for a while will cause shortness of breath. Body and cardiovascular system just not used to it. This comes from my own experience with loss of fitness when I have been down with the surgeries of ICD/Pacemaker and illnesses that kept me inactive for awhile.

When you say 2 for 1 heart block what does that mean? I know the first time I had indication of elecrtical problems in my heart was when doing a stress test and they found a Left Bundle Branch Block.

Normally and I use that word causiciously battery life is from 8-10 years. The new ones like yours may be better as they improve the devices and electricl impedence is lowered.

We that are on continuous pacing burn more battery life but each of mine I was getting almost 9 years. The one I have now has about 5 years left and that too will be around 9 years. The first ICD/Pacemaker had a manufacturer defect and battery life deplected faster at end than it was suppose to. Not had an issue like that ever again so do not think it is normal or that yours will have any such an issue.