I'm going to show you where it is, complete with the scar from the cutting, so if you're queasy you might want to go someplace else right now.
But for those of you who watch medical shows on television (SWMBO) and are still curious, here you go.
That thin red line is where the surgeon opened the skin over my chest a week ago yesterday and tugged and pushed to get the old pacemaker out and the new one inserted.
That bulge isn't swelling as much as it is the actual shape of the pacemaker beneath my skin.
The original leads (wires) that go from the device into my heart have been there since the first installation ten years ago.
They get checked from time to time but so far they're holding up just fine.
I don't think the yellowish color on the left is bruising as much as it is of some of the chemicals that were brushed onto the skin for cleaning.
I was out of the hospital only a couple of hours after the surgery and with an ice-pack on my chest, asleep for about an hour and a half.
After that no more ice and never any pain pills, not even aspirin.
'Course, they gave me quite a cocktail of drugs in the hospital which probably had a day's worth or so of time to wear off.
But, as the old expression goes, "no pain, no strain" and, since this was my fourth pacemaker "surgery", no worries either.
As I say (ad infinitum), "this ain't my first rodeo."
