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Anonymous

BATTERY WIRE TO LVAD CONTROLLER OOZING GREEN SLIME

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 7:18PM

I HAVE A HEARTMATE 2, IMPLANTED MARCH 27, 2012, ALMOST 19 MONTHS AGO.

I HAVE ALREADY, ABOUT 4 MONTHS AGO, HAD TO HAVE MY FIRST CONTROLLER REPLACED BECAUSE THERE WAS A GREEN COATING FORMING ON THE POWER CORD WITH THE WHITE CONNECTION. IT FORMED ON THE INSIDE OF THE SCREW TOGETHER CONNECTOR. THE FIRST TIME I BROUGHT THIS TO THE ATTENTION OF THE LVAD TECHIES, THEY SAID THEY HAD NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE AND THAT ALL THEY COULD DO WAS CLEAN THE GREEN COATING OFF. OKAY, THEY DID THAT. THE GREEN STUFF CAME BACK. ONE MONTH LATER ON MY MONTHLY VISIT ONE OF THE LVAD COORDINATORS WHO KNOWS WHEN I AM QUITE SERIOUS HAD THE TECHS REPLACE THE CONTROLLER INCLUDING THE WIRES ATTACHED TO IT. THEY SLICED OPEN THE OLD WHITE WIRE AND FOUND IT WAS FULL OF A GREEN SLIMY SUBSTANCE. NOBODY, INCLUDING THORATEC REPS, SO I WAS TOLD KNEW WHAT THE GREEN STUFF WAS.

NOW, AFTER THESE 4 MONTHS THE NEW WHITE CONTROLLER WIRE HAS STARTED WITH THE GREEN COATING AGAIN. I AM GOING IN TOMORROW TO, HOPEFULLY, GET YET ANOTHER CONTROLLER WITH WIRES.

HAS ANYBODY ELSE OUT THERE HAD THIS SAME THING HAPPEN TO THEM? HAVE YOU GOTTEN AN EXPLANATION?

A PIECE OF ELECTRONICS THIS SOPHISTICATED SHOULDN'T SLIME YOU, SHOULD IT?

Y'ALL STAY AS HEALTHY AS YOU CAN.

BILL FEAGIN

HOUSTON, TEXAS

SURELY I AM NOT ALONE IN THIS

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Barry and Susan (caregiver) S.

Wed, 12/04/2019 - 3:30PM

  My husband his destination HM2 surgery in oct. 2016.  He had to have a replacement 5 days later , Thrombosis on the pump.  He was in the hospital 61 days.  His age is 74.  There has been some events due to the Lvad, but nothing basically faulty with it.  He recently had an alarm go off and he stopped breathing , was unconscious for 1 minute. His pump stopped and there was no blood being pumped.   I am his wife and caregiver, very scary.  Did the steps, called the team, he did come back to me.  He was hospitalized at Mayo in Pheonix , for what they call “short to shield “.  They preformed an external percutaneous lead replacement , this did not solve the problem ,when returned to grounded cable.  He was discharged with a power module and a non-grounded cable.  We will be replacing his pump again due to continued wiring damage progression. 

I, Susan would like to know if any other Lvad patient has experienced this.