PAVRinPGH
Member
I was thinking of the process. How does a surgeon cut open the sternum. How long does it take?
I just can't watch them cut skin open, skin is the only thing human about the whole video to me. But I am grossed out by all of it, after having my sternum cut open I can't eat ribs or steak on the bone. No thank you.
I was thinking of the process. How does a surgeon cut open the sternum. How long does it take?
When i first read the subject line of this thread I was VERY concerned that you were considering this as a DIY weekemd project
I have a little different outlook. Once I knew surgery was imminent, I had to find out as many of the details as possible. So far the best video I've found was made at Texas Heart Institute. Here is a link to this hour long video.
http://www.or-live.com/texasheart/1326/event/rnh.cfm
You will find that it is of course carefully edited. You do hear the sternum saw but they do not show it in the view.
I found watching this video very reassuring. You get at least a little feel for how skilled these surgeons are and the care they take to insure their patients have a good outcome. One of the first things you notice is that there is very little blood loss. I banked blood for my own surgery but it was never used because my surgeon only measured 6 ounces of blood loss. This in itself is pretty incredible and indicates how far this type of surgery has come since the first one 50 years ago.
I certainly understand that some of us are troubled by these scenes and feel that their preference should be respected. Some of us, however, just need to know what will happen and how things get done. When my 5 year old niece learned that I was to have surgery to fix my heart, she paused for awhile and then came back in and asked "But how will he get inside?" She is of course my kindred spirit. I told her only that the Doctor would make an incision but that it would not hurt because I would be asleep. Later, she was the first person to ask if she could see the scar and when she did said she thought it looked nice and didn't look nearly as bad as her scraped knee.
There are still surprises. Most of us are not surgeons or nurses and just don't know the questions to ask. Somehow I failed to note that the drainage tubes and wires would each have their own little incision so I was somewhat surprised to find more holes than I expected. There are lots of bits of information available if you want to look for them.
Larry