Pain after surgery

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tina

New member
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
4
Location
Unniversity of Pennsylvania Hospital Philadelphia
I had my valve replacement on 7/25/11. My surgery and recovery went well, but I get so stressed out when I feel any pain around my chest area. Sometimes I get sharp pains. I had a cat scan, and each and my cardiologist has told me there is nothing wrong.. Does anyone else get these pains?
 
Yep, Greg is right.
Some nerve endings take a while to heal, and these twinges/sharp pains will grab at you when it's least expected.
 
Tina,

In addition to what was said before, in my humble unprofessional opinion, I think that as long as the pain is not constant or continuous, you do not need to worry about it. We normally become more aware of every single pain we feel after the surgery. It took me a long time before I felt comfortable and stopped rushing to my doctor every time i felt some pain!

Glad that you checked with your doctors and got peace of mind.

Soon, you may no longer pay attention to them. :)
 
Tina - Wait until you get older. We get little pains often, and they could be anywhere. As Eva said, as long as the pain is not a long-lasting or continuous pain, I just try to work around them. So far, so good. . .
 
Yeah. I had surgery a month ago. I get really upset with pain on the left side of my chest (as if it was on my heart) everytime a I breathe deeply. Hope it disappears soon.
 
I swear it was a year before the nerves and muscles in my chest stopped hurting after my first surgery. ESPECIALLY when I lifted any weight.
 
Ditto to everyone...I'm learning all about these muscle/nerve pains too. My massage therapist enjoys poking or pinching me somewhere on my back that will send the little chest zinger to prove it's just a muscle. Then she giggles. If the massages weren't free and she wasn't my sister in law...it might not be so funny.
 
Tina,

I agree with the others. Probably nothing to worry about. I know you said the doctors have found nothing on tests run, but have you made it clear to them your concerns about the pain?

Having asked that ... it is tough to know when to say something and when not to ... I know from experience. :(



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I had random pains a full year and a half after my surgery, but they have definitely faded into the background during the last six months. Some of these were just the type of ache I associate with healed broken bones (my thumb and ankle predate my sternum by decades). Others extended out to my ribcage, which was abused during the surgical process. I don't mind them when they hit, since at least I'm around to be annoyed by them.
 
After my first surgery I had sternum complications and was in constant pain for 6 months. They removed my wires and the pain vanished. After this surgery I still have aches and pains after a year, mostly with my sternum (again) but more a nuisance this time. I agree with Ken about it feeling more like healed broken bones. My sternum has been broken twice now so I imagine it won't ever feel like it did before my surgeries. I also get pains extending out to my ribcage. Cartilage is very slow to heal, so any cartilage that was damaged during the surgery will give you aches and pains for a long time. What gets me is when any of the pains I mention radiate away from the source which leads me to say "what was that?" lol. But it usually goes away and/or I can reproduce the pain by pressing on my sternum or ribcage. As the old saying goes...time heals all wounds, and time takes time.
 
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