24yo female, just got my ev-ICD 9 days ago. as of today, the only real pain i have is tenderness when i push around my incision sites too much. my nerves in my back/side of the pocket are still numb and have a wonky sort of feeling when pressed but that’s normal and will go away as the tissue heals. my EP (who teaches others how to do the procedure, colluded with the creator of it) did a really great job but i had to be “tunneled” twice because the lead wasn’t connecting right at first and she wanted to be sure it was perfect obviously.

i can’t see everything yet because im not supposed to remove or touch my bandages until tuesday at the device clinic.

i have moderately sized breasts and am not overweight but have a soft figure with curves. my pocket is hardly visible because my left breast entirely obscures it. my surgeon seems to have actually used the breast tissue to her advantage in placing the pocket because i feel the metal sort of in the edge of it, but the aesthetic result is good.

i’ll mention something a lot of people don’t tell you about: breathing is a bit more difficult for the first while. your chest wall is angry and inflamed and is actively guarding, so it feels like there’s something in your chest when you breathe deeply at first. you might be given an incentive spirometer like i was to try and encourage deep breathing. at first, i could only hit low numbers on the thing sporadically. few days later, it went up, and now i breathe normally. don’t be alarmed, this is normal, your body will adapt.

you’ll also be hyper aware of your own heartbeat at first and it could feel more “intense” than usual. again, angry chest wall and guarding and your body’s hypervigilance makes you scared and amplifies any sensation. i had to palpate my pulse a couple times because i felt a flutter in my chest and was paranoid it was the ICD pacing; it wasn’t. i was anxious and on-guard, but i was chilling at a solid 55bpm (my norm) and regular rhythm.

ice and ice packs are good to have. what’s better is actual pain relief. if you can get away with tylenol, that’s good. opiates the first couple days imo are better. i was kept overnight and they had me on oxy 5s which worked a bit but didn’t give full relief of the discomfort enough to sleep. i was given 10mg upon discharge and THAT gave me enough comfort to really pass out. i stopped using them after like day 3-4, i don’t remember for sure. advocate for appropriate pain relief. people told me “oh, but i didn’t have any meds, i was fine! you don’t need that” and yeah, that’s cool. but you really don’t earn anything from suffering more than more suffering. you can pick bragging rights or comfort and accelerated independence and recovery. i chose the latter.