A question for the Ladies...

[Star54]

My surgery was on 7/30, to remove an aortic aneurysm. So, my chest was craked open and there is a 3inch incision over my right breast. My sternum incision does not bother me much, but my entire right breast under the incision is really bothering me. When I woke up from surgery they already had this contraption bra on me, 8 days later when I got home, I took it off, it was driving me crazy. I've been ok without one until the past week, I've had to put on a normal underwire bra to sleep. And, I'm back to taking a percocet for this pain otherwise I cannot sleep.....Is this normal?

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I can't really answer your question, but are you saying you have a vertical incision down the middle of your chest AND a 3 inch incision above your breast? If so, why?

My suggestion would be that if you are suddenly experiencing more pain, call your doctor, because it could be an infection.

 

[TXWildflower]

Good advice from Lisa. I in general have been wondering how difficult it is to wear a bra are after a sternotomy. Do they irritate the incision? Sounds like they put something special on Star 54 while in the hospital. Is that the norm?

Rhena

 

[zipper2]

So really star you had the sternum cracked plus a seperate incision
under your breast right? from what i understand and its the smaller
incision right thats bothering,i dont know i just had my sternum opened
in jan and still i cant handle anything more wire than already inside me
i always wore underwire now im stiil with the sports bra,just hasnt
been right since my surgery.
Us poor woman i think we take a **** beating with heart surgery

 

[Marcia58]

Star54,

Could it be pain from nerve damage? I have nerve damage from my OHS incision and from my femoral incision. Sometimes, it's no problem, and other times, it stings or feels like it's on fire. It's getting better, though, and hurting less and less often. I think putting Mederma on the incision sites has helped.

Marcia

 

[barb]

It sounds like you have the same pattern on your chest that I do! I think we might be kind of unique . I asked here if anyone else had a horizontal incision on their upper chest and not many did. I was told that this is where I was hooked up to the bypass machine but it seems that most surgeons make use the groin as the site for bypass. I too suffered much more pain with my bypass incision in my upper right chest than my full stenrum one. I was told that even if they did make the incision in the groin for bypass that I would have more pain in my leg incision than in the sternum. I think this might be due to the fact that they need to cut through more muscle and nerve tissue at that site. It surprised me too that the sternum being cracked open didn't cause as much pain as the small incision. I am about 9 weeks post op and don't have pain in the area but still do have some numbness and sensitivity to touch. Every once in a while it aches. I had heard that there was such a thing as a surgical bra but never had one offered to me. After I got home I sent my husband to buy me some men's tank style undershirts to wear instead of a bra. I had him buy them so that they fit snug and provided the little bit of support that I needed. I did wear a regular bra again after a couple of weeks and it didn't bother me as much as I was afraid it would. Definitely use the pain meds to get comfortable at night. It's worth it to get the sleep you need to be able to heal. I am still finding that even though I feel great some pain still sneaks in occasionally. Do what you need to do to be comfortable. You are still healing.

 

[Star54]

Thanks all..
Barb, yes the incision was due to the bypass, on top of my right breast. I forgot to mention that. I had asked the surgeon last week beacause someone told me they insert a pacemaker during surgery..and they said bypass. I go to a new cardiologist next Monday, and if the pain gets worse or if it feels hot, (it does not) I will call the surgeon's nurse. I have no fever at all and if it were not for that pain, it is also under my armpit, I'd be ok. Now that you said about the groin, I also had a plug, the same place they did the angiogram, I guess they could not go through my groin...
Thanks again all!

 

[Lynlw]

Usually from our experience they open your sternum and put you on bypass thru that incision(so you only have one) . For alot of Min invasive they use a different spot usually groin or carodids for Bypass (because they can't fit the bypass AND work on your heart in that smaller opening). Also if there is a problem with internal scarring from redos, they might put you on bypass thru your groin before they open your sternum, They did that for Justin's last (5th) OHS because of his heart being fused to his sternum from the prvious surgeries it makes it a little safer opening the sternum if you are already on bypass

ps the temporary pacemaker that it very common during heart surgery usually is in the sternal incision along with everything else. The only extra incisions are usually for the chest drain tubes.

 

[Harmony]

I had minimal evasive surgery to repair my Mitral Valve. I went to see my surgeon today as I want to have a Mammogram and the scar looks very red, However he assured me I could do it. Star I know theres a bra store near Mt Sinai where they can fit you for a bra. I dont remember the name of it but there are not many bra stores so should not be hard to find. My surgery was 6 months ago and I still remember wearing a bra to be painful.

 

[tex]

I agree with all thats been said by everyone, i always wore underwired bras till my op, but now they hurt so much still i have gone to wearing the sports bras. Hope you get the pain sorted.
Take care
Jane

 

[Star54]

I have the surgical bra that the hospital put on me while I was under, I bought 3 similar types before the surgery, it's not the bra, I can wear any type, it's just the scar over my right breast that is healing/hurting (the bypass machine incision)and only wearing a bra (now all of a sudden) is what I need to help the pain. Since my last post the pain has lessened due to good old percocet, Monday I see a new cardiologist at Mt.Sinai (my previous one was not for me), this will be the first topic, on a short list that I have to ask him. Thanks all of you.....

 

[Lynlw]

For the preop testing for Justin's last OHS beside the usual echo, they also did ultrasounds of both sides of his groin and neck/upper chest area incase they needed to use any of those spots for bypass. When we were killing time I remeber saying I was glad Justin was a guy because I could imagine breast pulling on the carotid incision being painful, especially if your well endowded.
Justin's groin incision is about 3 or 4 inches long and from the beginning hurt more than his chest (well spots hurt, other places were numb for months)
Since then I've heard other people say the bypass incision is the one that bothers them and when I figured out they were routine with most min invasive OHS, I wonderred if they make it clear by having min invasive, you will have a smaller sternal incision, or thoriacic incision, but you also will have a seperate bypass incisions,(that seem to hurt alot of people who find the sternum pain easier to deal with) that you usually don't have with a full sternum.

 

[Smiley2000]

Girl, I have some bad news for you... some of us take much longer than usual to heal. I am 17months post-op after my OHS and some days it STILL hurts if the seatbelt pressess on my sternum! My GP says that I should get the Sternum wires removed, cause it might be to tight or something, but I prefer to just live with it. It only hurts some times.

So, you are about 6 weeks post-op and you didn't get your tonsils removed - so remember that OHS takes very long to heal completely. I am also a bit puzzled about the incision under your breast, but glad to hear that you don't have a fever - so that outrules infection. It is just going to take some time to heal.

Please ask your new Cardio to have a look at it and if possible ask him to take xrays to see if all the wiring is still intact and use Tisue Oil on both incisions.
Hugs ( )

 

[halleyg]

My first surgery I had an incision under my right breast, and let me tell you, it was the worst pain! I would wake up and feel like my breast was on fire from the pain, I can't really put into words how much it hurt! I don't think I wore a bra for two months afterwards, except for this soft cotton one (similar to a sports bra) on occasion. I still have slight nerve damage, but nothing I notice regularly or anything. As someone else said, some of us take longer to heal, and apparently there are many nerves in this area, which at times like this is not a good thing!

 

[Star54]

Smiley 2000:
The incision is not under my breast but over it. If you look at my album, you can see it slightly. Now the pain has radiated to my shoulder. And yes, I know my tonsils were not removed and well aware of the recovery, but my original question was regarding the placement of the incision. But thanks for your input anyway.

 

[Star54]

Just to end this thread, because I've mentioned it elsewhere, it turns out that that I have pericarditis, and am being treated for it. The pain was near the horizontal bypass incision over my right breast...At least I now know what it is...

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I know you wrote about this somewhere else, but I don't want to hunt for that one! I feel your pain (literally). I have had recurrent pericarditis for the 11 years since my surgery, and I remember the severe pain of the earlier episodes as if it was yesterday. Mine would start under my collar bone and work its way to my shoulder, arm, back, neck, little toenail..... I alternated between Tylenol and Vicodin and still couldn't knock out the pain (oops! I have since learned that Vicodin contains Tylenol so am surprised I didn't shut down my kidneys!). They gave me a Medrol Dosepak, which helped, but as soon as I took the last pill, the pain came back. Finally, they left me on a low dose of Prednisone for months until the miracle drug Vioxx came out. OK, some people don't think it was a miracle drug, but it certainly was to me! I was tired of the side effects of Prednisone and had gained 35 pounds in 9 months and I wasn't even pregnant! I only gained 40 lbs. in my two pregnancies combined! Thankfully, the later episodes weren't nearly as bad and after Vioxx was removed from the market I could use Aleve for the milder cases and Mobic for the others. I actually can't remember the last episode, so maybe it's gone!

Anyway, I'm thinking good thoughts that you will be over this soon.

 

[Star54]

Thanks, He gave me 500mg of naproxen to take twice a day,for 7 days, nothing for the pain, so , I have been taking 1/2 percocet (I was trying so wean myself off them)....only at night. Funny that the pain gets worse when I try to sleep. Last thing I need is prednesone, I'm already overweight and trying to lose more before I get back to work next month.....
Ciao for now..