Pacemaker gone all wrong ...making everything worse

[CavadaNicole]

Yes, I am desperatly looking for answers. During this recent summer my father went to the hospital for a urinary tract infection. They said that he would need a pacemaker also. So he got the pacemaker everything was fine. During the next two months the pacemaker was swollen and fluid was coming out. He went to the doctors four times and they said nothing was wrong. My father in november had to go back to the hospital. The pacemaker was still not healed. They said he had gotten a blood infection or staph from the pacemaker. They removed the pacemaker the following day. Since then my dad has been getting all kinds of problems. After surgery he stayed sedated 48 hrs. He was up for a day and now they sedated him again. They say that there is a leak in his valve and they are giving him tests for his liver and talking about a trachonimy. Me and My mother do not know what to do. How come he was completely healthy until this pacemaker. Could the infection be causeing this. Have you heard of these types of side effects with infected pacemakers. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Since my father is diabetic could it be the sedatation medicine making him unable to be awake. When is awake he says he has a hard time breathing. He was fine 2 days prior though. Thank you for your time. I greatly appreciate it.

[anacyde]

Wow.  You do hear of things like this happening, but rarely.  It is possible with any surgery for an infection to occur, and it sounds like this is what happened to your dad.  I'm sorry he's going through such a rough time.

It's possible for a staph infection to cause a number of serious problems, depending on the severity of it and how far it spread.  Diabetes can complicate things further.  The best thing he can do right now is follow up closely with his medical care and get this all under control.