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Anna N. Family Member

My dad

Sun, 08/29/2021 - 10:21AM

My dad has lived with his LVad for about 4 years successfully.  In recent months he developed an infection and was treated for same in the hospital and now takes a medication to keep the infection at bay.  Of course he has other medications related to his device as well.  The infection was caught in June and so after a few months we notice his appetite declining and he’s very weak and fatigued.  He is not a candidate or strong enough for a replacement device and another surgery.  We’re wondering what else can be done or have others experienced similar situations?  Thanks for any insights you can share.  

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Mike C.

Mon, 09/13/2021 - 12:37PM

Hi Anne,

Sorry it's been a while since I visited this site.  When the infection was first discovered did they do an echo? and/or a right heart catheterization?  I would think a determining factor would start with those two procedures to see where things are.  And an ongoing infection can certainly cause loss of appetite so my first thoughts would be the infection isn't completely gone or it was bad enough to weaken the heart or another organ.  Again, I'd start with the above suggestions and go from there.  Best of Luck.

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Melissa A.

Mon, 09/13/2021 - 2:38PM

Hi Anna ,

My husband developed a driveline infection and also wasn’t strong enough to have a pump exchange . He was put on the antibiotic vancomycin for a month at a time with a picline . It was able to administered at home . His infection got worse and he developed MRSA so he would end up being hospitalized at least once a month for the last 6 months due to the infection flare ups . I’m not sure much can be done other then treating the infection with antibiotic. I would make sure that they culture the driveline site and do blood cultures to make sure the infection isn’t getting worse or spreading to his blood , which is what happened to my husband . Hope this helps you . Blessings 💜💜 

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Bernard chuck S.

Mon, 09/20/2021 - 1:02PM

I have had LVAD since may 2019. I have had many infections ( fungal & bacterial) which treatment with different  medicines I have ct scan of the driveline it shows it had entered a half inch around my driveline site but it entered any further luckily doesn’t cause me a lot of issues just can be very painful and red 

I am getting over mild one now but I had about 10 so far just let the docs know