Getting Wired

[Joe Cool]

Would someone please tell me about the wires they use to put you back together with. When they rolled me in for my angio, the previous patients x-ray was still up and showed the wires in their chest. It looked like something I would do with some baling wire and pliers to repair a fence! Do they leave them like that? Do you feel them? Are they uncomfortable? Do they remove them? Sorry for so many questions. I was just wondering.

 

[geebee]

Your description is accurate - wire twisted around the bone. Yes, they are left like that. Most of us do not feel them, some have significant problems and have actually had them removed.
I have felt a twinge here and there when I move in certain ways that I attribute to a wire but I am not positive. I do not consider them a problem.

 

[tantekay]

My son has them....

My son has them....

and they look like bag ties wrapped around the boned and twisted together. Since he's only 2 1/2 years old I'm not sure whether they bother him or not, but I can say that they don't seem like they do. He goes, and goes like the energizer bunny and any other toddler (except due to his current condition his o2 runs around 75% - 82% -- so he gets a little winded at times). It never seems to bother him when we pick him up or anything else either. I'm sure others have very different experiences, but ours has been fine.

 

[Superbob]

Wired is what we are -- good description. I feel a little evidence of that once in a while, but nothing really painful. I find it kind of neat, to tell the truth. Evidence of having it all together.

 

[KAJ]

I never thought about it. From now on, if anyone ever tells me I am "wired", I will repsond "yes I am. Not only that, but I am also a "live wire."

Karl

 

[Ross]

Get some magnets and see if you can hang them from your chest! Kids love it.

(Has never worked for me. I think someone was pulling my leg, but I'll pass it on so you can look silly too! )

 

[liza]

I find the wires very painful! I've been doing some reading on here about having them removed. It seems that thin people tend to have a problem with them. I'm slender and can see mine poking out under my skin. I get sharp pains when I twist certain ways, or if someone hugs me to too tight. I just posted in the "bra" post that I can't wear bras very often because it hurts my chest. I finally got an appointment with my cardiologist for Tuesday (expect an update then! ) and I'm going to ask about having them removed. I really don't want to undergo another surgery of any type, but man do they hurt!

For what it's worth, I've been able to hang small magnets on my chest. I don't know if it's because they stick to my skin or they are really stuck to the wires. Who knows?

Liza

 

[Janea]

I am also thin and I think I can feel the wires. If I run my hand along my chest I definately feel some foriegn bums I never had before. My chest is still sore from recent surgery so I can't really tell if the wires cause me pain or its just my incision.

 

[tobagotwo]

Certainly, some people do have problems with the wires at times. I've never felt them, even when I stretch or twist quickly. It's quite a small percentage who have the problem, but if it's you that hurts, I don't suppose that would make you feel any better.

Sometimes, people confuse attacks of costochondritis with pain from the wires. It causes exquisitely sharp pains, but is actually mostly about tiny muscles charley-horsing, and nerves going off like alarm clocks.

Consider how ticklish most people are in their ribs. That's because there are so many nerves there. The only suggestion I could make to avoid rib pain problems as much as possible is to make sure you move while you heal (to paraphrase Satchel Paige, 'Sort of jangle around while you walk'). I believe it takes movement and gentle stretching to assure the tiny muscles and tendons get properly realigned and "fit back together" properly. Of course, even that wouldn't work for everybody.

Again, most of us don't feel the wires at all. Even strong magnets don't work on me, by the way. Stainless steel isn't quite as magnetic as regular steel, due to its nickel content. However, I just tried a stainless steel scissors and a stainless steel butter knife on my pegboard tool magnet, and both stuck solidly. So, I guess we walk under those construction crane magnets at our own risk.

They must show up vividly in an MRI.

Best wishes,

 

[hensylee]

Mornin, Joe. We have several members who have had them removed. One of them (ILoveNY) was hospitalized for her wire removal. You can search her on the Membership List (above) and find her posts. She was very thin and they hurt her plus she had other illnesses. A few members have had broken wires but it's been a long time ago, so they must be using a better wire these days.

My cardio's assistant told me the wires DO look like bread ties. They are there forever unless we opt to or have to have them removed.

It's been 6 yrs for me and the bony of my chest area is still tender - when the cat steps on it.

 

[marky]

great question..

great question..

I too am small and can feel all kinds of bumps..of course I am only 17days post op?
I did set of the detector at the video store last night? I didn't know they could do that!

If they remove them what do they put in place? to hold the sternum?

and while we are on the question..how long does ittake for the BUMP to go down? I look like my sternum comes together in a big Tepee on my chest!

 

[Marguerite53]

I'm almost 5 weeks out and I'm not sure what I'm feeling, but I've started having some low level aching pain in the sternum area. I'm moving around alot more these days and starting to sleep on my right side at night -- I imagine this has something to do with it. I do know that for the second and third week, I felt very tight....as if the wires were tied too tight. Then one day at 4 weeks out I had a sneezing fit! I hadn't sneezed yet at all and tried so hard to stop them but to no avail. I know this is weird, but at that point the sneezes didn't hurt, and in fact, my tightness sensations waned. Almost like I needed some release!!

I remember being very druggy, still, when they wheeled me in for my hospital xray. My husband and daughter had just come in to visit and I was anxious to get back to them. I think the xray tech was kinda cute and flirty, too. Anyway, I forgot to look at the resulting xray! Would have liked to have seen my wires!!

No magnets in my house will stick! But I'm not a thin person...for once, maybe that's a good thing!

Marguerite

 

[Cooker]

I am 13 weeks post op and have had no problem at all. The ingrown hairs were bothersome but I have not felt any thing that I thought were wires.

Tom

 

[Mary]

Magnets don't stick to mine either--darn!

 

[twinmaker]

My wire on my sternum bothered me after both OHS. I could feel it, but of course I was A LOT thinner way back when. The solution for me was living to age 53 and gaining the weight that goes along with that age (at least for some of us)! LINDA

 

[Philip]

I'm off in search of a magnet!!
I will report any positive results.
Philip

 

[MikeHeim]

Put me down as someone who can feel theirs, but they don't seem to cause pain. Just doing it right now, I can distictly feel three different wires in various locations along the sternum. Kinda creepy.

 

[catwoman]

Joe:

I saw one of my post-op chest X-rays a year ago and it was quite unremarkable. I was expecting it to look like some laced-up running shoes. NOT!

I do have one "pointy" place at or near the top of my incision that I believe is wiring. It hasn't poked through my skin yet, and it's not worrisome enough to have it taken out.

 

[sue943]

I must be mad - I fell for it and went into the kitchen in search of fridge magnets and attemped to stick them on my body, they didn't stick but were quite large, perhaps I ought to try the little word ones.

 

[mntbiker]

I know it's lots of fun to get the newbies to try and stick magnets to themselves but let's be realistic here. The sternum wires are made of stainless steel, the type that is used will not attract a magnet. Sorry folks. As much fun as it would be, it will not happen.

Sorry to ruin your fun.