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Jkm7

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
4,384
Location
Massachusetts
For those who have had their chests fully opened, no matter the number of years since are any of you totally ache, pain, throb, sensation free at your incision site? Does weather never effect it, are you never aware it has been cracked open?

My first surgery, I had frequent discomfort four years after. It was tolerable and I never would have done anything about it had I not needed to have to cracked again for my valve replacement. It was not due to wires and healed fine in all respects except for an ache and stiffness with certain weather.

I spoke with my surgeon about it prior to my second surgery and he said he would try hard for it to be better second time for me and it is. I am now three years out of that surgery and am definitely more comfortable but notice still in hot, humid weather, on rainy days or extreme barometer changes, I get that old familiar ache.

Anyone else experience that?
Is there anyone who has absolutely no residual discomfort from the sternum cut?

Thanks.
 
I didn't feel any discomfort after my first surgery. The last year post 2nd surgery I've had a bit of occasional discomfort on the right side near the rib cage and on the left around the pacemaker, but not really any pain with the incision spot. My chest was also "left open" for almost a week and I'm told it healed in such a way the doctors can tell looking at the MRI that it was left open for a while.
 
Good question and here's my answer: I'm almost 4 years post-op and I do get those little twinges around the upper part of the incision area, and yes they are sometimes a little painful - then twinges act like a reminder.

My Cardio said that they may never go away, indicating that some nerve endings just never heal completely.
 
I have more rib soreness after my second than my first. My soreness is more toward my armpit area and thin down to the bottom of the rib cage. I also have bad seasonal allergies, and my incision gets very itchy and has since 1997.
 
I had no pain whatsoever after my first surgery and that lasted for almost 30 years. Since my second surgery, I have had some sternal pain, but my Drs and I have chalked it up to costochondritis which got much better after a nice shot of steroids in my sternum. Hopefully, the pain won't come back.
 
Well, considering that I've been 'cracked' open 3-times, once in a great while, I'll feel an ache along the sterum but it's usually when the weather is really cold or when rain is in the forecast!

During the very unusual cold spell we had last month, the dull ache was pretty pronounced. Sometimes too, if I turn abruptly during my sleep, I'll feel a little stab coming from the sterum.
 
If I have something pushing on the wires (like a pendant and a heavy coat over the pendant), I kind of feel it, but other than that, I really don't have any discomfort.
 
JKM, I have a couple of other issues but I have no discomfort in my sternum. That has really been true since I first woke up after leaving the ICU. It seems to be the norm for those of us whose sternum was closed using Talons. Here is a PDF that describes them.
http://www.rapidsternalclosure.com/medical/Sternal_Fixation_-_Sternal_Talon.pdf
At 17 months, I feel a little valley beneath my scar but no aching or pain. That is not to say there have been no problems with my chest. About 7 months post op I developed Costochondritis which is an inflammation of the cartilage between the ribs and the outer edge of the sternum. That gradually improved but it still pops up now and then.

Larry
 
Apart from the healing time, I've not had any pain in my sternum. In fact, by the time I had the second surgery, they had updated their techniques to where I could actually sleep on either side (yes, even the left side) from the day I got home.

Your surgeon has a lot to do with it, I believe. Did he leave it for someone else to close? Were they careful with the alignment? Did they have a lot of experience with setting the wires, or did they just "get through it"? You have to wonder.

Certainly, there would have to be a percentage who would have some pain later no matter how good the surgeon was.

Best wishes,
 
tobagotwo said:
Apart from the healing time, I've not had any pain in my sternum. In fact, by the time I had the second surgery, they had updated their techniques to where I could actually sleep on either side (yes, even the left side) from the day I got home.

Your surgeon has a lot to do with it, I believe. Did he leave it for someone else to close? Were they careful with the alignment? Did they have a lot of experience with setting the wires, or did they just "get through it"? You have to wonder.

Certainly, there would have to be a percentage who would have some pain later no matter how good the surgeon was.

Best wishes,
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I had the same surgeon both times and he was one of the 'power hitter' cardio-thoracic surgeons at Mass General..... not any there that are less than outstanding. They don't rank in the top five for U.S. heart centers year after year if they have less than top notch talent. Yah, good surgeon. :)

I think it's a case of everyone's body heals in its own way. I followed post op instructions diligently and did only what permitted and took my time with an unrushed healing. No question but that I am very much better after the second surgery than I was the four years post op before my second surgery. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I don't have some arthritis in my sternum. Anyone ever heard of that?

Today is very wet with rain/sleet/snow around Boston and my sternum has been achy all day.
 
Jkm7, isn't Mass General a teaching hospital, maybe for Harvard Med School? I wouldn't be too sure that your heavy-hitter surgeon, or mine, did the routine parts of our ops, like the closing-up. The future heavy-hitter surgeons have to get their start somewhere. . .

I'm still a bit less than three MONTHS post-op, but the good news is that I've already had long periods where I DON'T notice my sternum "talking to me". Often in the morning, or when I get up after sitting for a long time, it just asks me to rub it. Not exactly itchy skin (though I've had that in spades!), this is more like deeper-tissue itchy. Between those times, it's often absent, which is to say, normal feeling. Sleeping, coughing, sneezing, lifting stuff, reaching up, etc., etc., are all basically normal by now.
 
I'm almost three years post op with full sternotomy and I have no pain or discomfort around the sternum.
John
 
normofthenorth said:
Jkm7, isn't Mass General a teaching hospital, maybe for Harvard Med School? I wouldn't be too sure that your heavy-hitter surgeon, or mine, did the routine parts of our ops, like the closing-up. The future heavy-hitter surgeons have to get their start somewhere. . .

I'm still a bit less than three MONTHS post-op, but the good news is that I've already had long periods where I DON'T notice my sternum "talking to me". Often in the morning, or when I get up after sitting for a long time, it just asks me to rub it. Not exactly itchy skin (though I've had that in spades!), this is more like deeper-tissue itchy. Between those times, it's often absent, which is to say, normal feeling. Sleeping, coughing, sneezing, lifting stuff, reaching up, etc., etc., are all basically normal by now.
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Brigham and Womens and Mass General are both Harvard Medical School Teaching hospitals. (Both are consistently in the top five to ten list of U.S. News BEST heart centers. Not surprising Harvard would produce such talent.)

;) Bunch of really untalented, under-educated, not so bright fellows and residents. (sarcasm intended)
I think they are what you might call 'the best of the best'.

Due to the conversation my surgeon and I had prior to my second surgery, his surgical report specifically delineated 'he was there' the whole surgery.

I'm going to pursue my arthritis theory. I see my cardio soon and will discuss it with him.
Sleeping comfortably, coughing, sneezing are no issues for me...... my issues are weather related.
 
Jkm7 said:
........................................I'm going to pursue my arthritis theory. I see my cardio soon and will discuss it with him.
Sleeping comfortably, coughing, sneezing are no issues for me...... my issues are weather related.
Click to expand...

As I stated my chest (dual pectoral and diaphram flap) drives me nuts (short drive I am already "round the bend") and as Arthritis is inflamationof the joints I will be interested to know his/her response please post it here or PM me ...thanks
 
i have no sternum pain or problems and i am now back on the weights, bench pressing a reasonable 80kgs , the only thing i do get when training is a sensation like an elecric shock in my back near my right trap , probaly a nerve ! but thats it my crack open was oct 2009
 
We have had so much snow and other crap, (more tonight) my chest aches too. Sometime my drain holes ache a little when it is going to snow..My wires are still sensitive to pressure and probably always will be because they are not covered by much...It is never bad enough to have to take anything , I just notice it..My Dr. teaches at Harvard so who knows, but with his reputation I doubt he would let some clown close me up..
 
I've had my chest sliced twice, the second time was only a week after my first. I had to go back a couple months later to have one of the wires removed cause they forgot to bend it over and it was pretruding throught my chest. Yes I to get itchy round the scare, but no discomfort. The only pain I do get once in a while feels deep into my chest, it's like someone is pushing a knife in my chest and twisting it round, the Doc's say it's nerves and will go! I hope! I had it yesterday twice and its was at least couple weeks since I had it. The weather here is ok, we don't get a real cold winter so maybe that helps. I do a bit of weights not to much and I think that helps.
 
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