Surgery! God do I feel good!!!!!!!!!!

[NightrainSrt4]

Sorry I was to anxious to post before hand, but as some of you may have seen me alluding to, I got my surgery yesterday. The bar that has been in my chest almost for the duration that I have been here on TBCS finally has come out!

I can breathe! I sneezed without an ounce of pain! I rolled up out of bed (just now, it's early but I got 5 hours of sleep and slept/was put under all day yesterday) without any pain for the first time in years.

For the first time in four years I can breathe, completely. For the first time in two years I can breathe without any pain! Aside for the swollen cuts on both my sides that is, .

The reason I had so much pain these last two years when I wasn't supposed to was not because my bracket was tied into a nerve, but bone had formed around the entire bracket trying to seal it off from my body. So every breath I took, every time I moved it was sharp stabbing pains, for two years.

Sorry for breaking the rules here a little bit, and feel free to edit this, and I probably will at a later time but...
I FEEL SO FOCKING ALIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS!

[billygoat333]

YAY!!! Glad to hear that man. I am sure you are feeling MILLIONS of times better. which is good!

[NightrainSrt4]

Oh yes I do! I mean, I sneezed and I didn't feel a thing. For the past two years when I have sneezed, and I have allergies so it happens all the time, I let out this horrendous scream like a pig being butchered or something.

I just sneezed and my fiance came running out of bed to check on me. She's like "Are you okay? Are you sure? OMG are you really okay?" and I am like "Ya, didn't feel a freaking thing. Go back to bed sweetheart".

Just Wow is all I can say. So this is what a normal person feels like. I didn't realize how much I envied being able to breathe and feel normal. I didn't realize just how much pain I've endured the last few years. I've always just brushed it off and avoided the meds they gave me. I can't believe I've lived with that much pain. I don't think I could ever do that again knowing what it can feel like to just breathe a breath of fresh air.

[OvRiDe]

Now that is some awesome news!! Fantastic!!!

[NightrainSrt4]

Hehe, thanks. They gave me the bar that was in my chest, so I can take some pictures of that tomorrow and post them up. They didn't let me have the bracket or wires, lol, but that is probably because of all the bone that started to grow on it. Ewww lmfao, wouldn't want that hehe.

[blueonblack]

Outstanding news! Congratulations and here's to a swift recovery from the surgery as well.

[Zephik]

Thats great news! I've always read here and there about that awful bar you had in your chest and how much pain it constantly caused you. Good for you man, I'm pretty sure at this point you deserve having that thing taken out. I would of pulled the trigger long ago, so to speak. lol

Enjoy you're brand new life! One without chest pains from doing the simplest things, like sneezing. That would of driven me stark raving mad!

I can't seem to remember although I'm sure you've mentioned it before. Why did you have to have that bar in your chest again?

[NightrainSrt4]

I have something similar to Marfan Syndrome, but not quite. It is genetic and a couple of my brothers have similar symptoms as well. Basically my connective tissue does not act normal, it loses all its elasticity, and can lead to different kind of bodily issues/muscle failures. It can affect the eyes, heart, skin, cartilage, etc.

Basically the cartilage/tissue in my sternum did not form the way it should have. This caused the inner portion of my chest to cave in a bit. Cosmetically it didn't look too bad before, unlike some children who look quite crushed. But it was in fact crushing my heart and lungs. The biggest thing I guess with this issue is that you can have premature heart failure/heart attack. Basically your heart works too hard all the time, even for the simplest things because it is being compressed 24/7 that you just pretty much die randomly. My 13+ years of martial arts was both a blessing and an issue. It caused my heart to become stronger, which held me away from having a heart attack, but it also worked much more than a regular heart works doing pretty much anything. So it would have failed eventually had I not ran out of energy and started having breathing issues. As it was my lungs were not functioning well because of the added strain.

And so, the bar was put in place. Two incisions on the right side, one on the left, all about an inch and a half to two inches long, right along the ribs, horizontally. A stainless steel bar was then curved to the shape of my chest wall and put in backwords, and then popped around to the correct position by flipping it around. This causes the chest wall to expand outward. A bracket holding the bar was attached to my ribs with what I understand to be like steel wire. This bracket and wire was what the bone formed around. After two years the chest is supposed to be able to form correctly again and when you take it out it is supposed to be able to hold its position, allowing you to breath correctly and not have your heart and lungs crushed. It is normally performed on very little children, as their cartilage is still forming then, but for me it wasn't caught until later on.

I went to Boston Hospital and was told by the doctor:

There is nothing wrong with you. You have anxiety. You should grow a stronger skin to the world around you, and when you do that things should ease away.

So screw Boston Hospital, as it obviously wasn't anxiety lmfao. Didn't matter anyway, as how Boston does it is by cutting out your chest plate in its entirety and then forming that and wiring it back up with steel wires. No thanks, I'm glad I took the less invasive method anyway.

So ya, I think that covers most of it. . All there is to it now is to take some tylenol with codine and wait till the cuts and such heal up. Oh, and it wasn't just sneezing that hurt, simply breathing was enough to want to cry yourself to sleep and hope it all went away. After a while you get used to living with pain. But god do I never want to go back. It is an amazing feeling to suck in a full chest of clean air, well at least as fresh as an urban area can give you lmfao.

[rendermandan]

Wow, its great that you are feeling better!

[Kayin]

Pectus cavernosum, right?

I've got Marfan's. I lucked out with that, but my ribs separate from my sternum instead.

So glad to hear you're OK from that, nice to find someone else understands about this...