Not quite 4 weeks after the op I woke and felt some very acute pains in my left shoulder and down my left arm. It worried me. As soon as the Cardio-respiratory department at the hospital was open for phone calls I rang to see if I could speak to one of my after-care team about my pains. After a very short conversation with them they asked me to go in to see them that afternoon. I can't tell you how relieved I was to be able to go in.
The pains continued all day unlike some pains which are there until you decide to do something about them, when suddenly they vanish, such as toothache.
Not long after arriving at the hospital I was taken through to the technicians room and they started asking a variety of questions. The general view was that the pains were just down to more movement of my arm causing the muscle where they made the pocket to be moved more and causing the pain. As it was almost 4 weeks since the operation they decided they would do my 5th November check early. They put the monitor on top of my pacemaker and started to check out what it was doing. As before, they speeded up my heart and slowed it down a couple of times and they were happy everything was working correctly and that by now the leads would be well seated and I didn't need to be concerned about lead displacement. That was a major relief for me. She then asked how my scar was healing and I explained that one end was fine but the end nearest my shoulder wasn't healing as well. She had a look and also felt it wasn't healing as well as the rest of the scar and looked a little sore. She went to see if the surgeon was able to come and have a look but unfortunately he wasn't in the hospital so we decided I should continue to keep a check on it, continue to use the antiseptic spray and hopefully it would stay infection free and heal ok.
Having seen that everything was ok, that the pains were normal and with a few positive words on how well I was recovering, they decided to cancel my appointment on November 5th and book the next one for 3 months.
As I walked out of the hospital I felt so much more positive than when I went in, despite the fact that the pain in my shoulder felt just as bad as when I went in.
And, as an added plus for the day - they said I can now start to move my arm about more, that I don't have to worry about it being above my shoulder as the leads will be well in place now. Now that is a huge relief, I can tell you.
Your sensation is slightly familiar. I do remember for a while that i had mild pain around the pocket and still feel the odd tight pain going up my left shoulder, I tend to think it's the route that the wire has taken and occasionally due to movement you can snag on it (just guessing) Or maybe it's a phantom pain, since in our head we know we have this foreign object in our body.
ReplyDeleteAlso do you have the same issue of laying on your left side? I had horrible pain if I did as it would push the device to the right and just kept having this fear of it unplugging.
I do sometimes get a pricking sensation and think it's the wire digging in, although I can't imagine there are any raw ends left to dig in anywhere. I was very concerned in the first few weeks that I would move in a wrong way and dislodge the wires, but I'm more comfortable with the idea they have a good grip and aren't going anywhere now. That seems to have had a strong psychological impact on the odd pains and sensations I was experiencing, in that they have significantly reduced.
ReplyDeleteUntil a week or so ago, laying on my left side was still very painful, it caused the unit to dig into my muscle which was still healing and very painful to pressure. Today is actually 6 weeks since the operation and i can now lay on my left side without pain, although I can still feel the unit pushing into the muscle.
It's good to know I'm not alone in thinking I'm going to do something to cause it to become unplugged, or detached, but I try to convince myself they're more robust than that. After all, they've been implanting them for quite a few years now so must have sorted these types of issues - or so I have to believe for my own sanity.