Ongoing Pain 12 Months After Surgery

[willaho]

I am new to this forum and would appreciate any ideas you have regarding significant pain my mother is experiencing 12 months after having mitral valve repair surgery. She was in good health (aside from the leaky valve) before last year's open heart surgery. The pain across her entire chest, centered around the area of the incision, never went away post-surgery, and it's such that it's extremely painful to try and rotate the upper body or pick-up up anything as heavy as a large bottle of laundry detergent. The feeling inside the chest is difficult to describe--it's a sinking feeling (like something inside the chest could fall out or collapse) as well as a sense of tightness (like the chest was stitched back too tightly). She has tried pain management (medication and patches) and went through cardiac rehab, but nothing seems to be helping. Her cardiologist and cardiac surgeon say there is nothing they can do and she needs to just live with this intolerable pain the rest of her life, but she feels as though something physically must be wrong. Has anyone experienced this, or does anyone have ideas on what might be causing this? Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

 

[Ross]

Hello and welcome. How old is mom? Personally, I think I'd want another opinion from another Physician. To me, it sounds like arthritis has set up in her sternum, but that should show up in an xray.

 

[hall]

I wondered the same things, how old is your mother and I would most certainly get a second opinion. Somthing is not right, that is for sure.

 

[Bina]

Welcome. I recuperated at a snail's pace. My first year was horrible, but the second year was much better.
It is always a good idea to keep a journal of the aches and pains, and to keep the doctors informed.
My thoughts are that your Mom's extreme discomfort warrants another doctor's opinion.

 

[tex]

I am 6 months post surgery now having an AVR and a Mitral Valve repair, I have had real problems with my sterum, servere pain feel as though when i move i have to hold my sterum in place to steady it, i did go back to see my surgeon who did an x-ray and it showed that part of sterum has not fused together in part, at first he though that just some of wires had come undone. I was also very inflamed around the area when it had not fused together, i was placed on Oxynorm tablets for the pain and also Lyrica which is usually used as an anti-convulsant drug to also help with the pain and swelling, and Lidocaine patches to put over the wound for pain. All these meds have worked but i am awaitng surgery now to have the sterum rewired back where it hasnt fused. Has your mum had an x ray?
But i would if you can find another doctor and get a 2nd opinion, your mum cant go on live in pain
Take Care
Jane

 

[willaho]

Thanks very much for these responses. My mother is 75 years old. She had a chest X-ray last fall which showed her ribs were OK (as she had taken a fall), and just had a chest CT that showed some of the wires were close to the surface of the skin and might be causing some pain. We're thinking now that perhaps the chest CT needs to be re-read. Indeed maybe they should look closely at the sternum healing.

 

[Ross]

If she fell and injured her ribs, there is a good chance that she tore some cartlidge and that may be responsible. One way or the other, someone else needs to see her or the tests need to be rerun and checked by someone else.

 

[willaho]

Update on Ongoing Pain 12 months after surgery

Update on Ongoing Pain 12 months after surgery

Since my post of 2 weeks ago, my mother has gotten several additional opinions from cardiac surgeons after reviewing her chest CT scan, and unfortunately we still don't know the cause of her pain. All 3 doctors concur that her sternum has in fact fused/healed. (Ironically, it might have been good to learn it didn't fuse correctly, since at least we'd know what's causing the problem). The only suggestion was to remove the sternum wires, since two of them are sticking up fairly near the surface of the skin. But, only one surgeon recommended that as the next course of action, and even he couldn't explain how that would help address the sinking sensation and feeling that something is loose and moving inside her chest. Anyone have any experience with sternum wire problems/pain and/or removal of them?

Thanks again very much.

 

[MissMelis]

Hi,

I had my wires removed in Dec 08, but it wasn't so much for pain as it was that I was having an allergic reaction to them...so I don't know if this really helps.
I do know that the wire removal surgery was relatively easy.

I can't say much about the sternum pain though...though I know there's a few on here that seem to still be experiencing sternum pain. Hopefully they'll pipe up.

I hope you can get to the bottom of this for you and your mom's sake.

Thinking of you both! Keep us posted.
Melissa

 

[Resqrn]

I can talk to my chest pain post op, its 4 years and i still have lots of chest pain. they say it probably is related to being operated on twice, or my chronic aortic dissection, or phantom pain. it does feel like that critter in aliens movie trying to get out of my chest. so i can relate to the continual pain that your mom has. my docs have not been able to tell me for a definate why the pain is there, but it is and that it has not gotten better in the last few years so i get the oppertunity to live with it. for me in the big picture it is a small price to pay for the ability to share my life with my family. PM me if you have any more personnal questions. mike and my thoughts go out to your mom.