Sternum wire question

[ShezaGirlie]

My AVR surgery was in Oct. 1999 no problems until now. Feels like a sternum wire is poking me on the right side of my sternum and it’s quite painful . Has anyone experienced something similar to this and what did you do? Thanks for all info!

 

[ATHENS1964]

A simple chest x-ray will show what's going on

 

[ShezaGirlie]

A simple chest x-ray will show what's going on

Thanks! That’s the avenue I’m taking this morning.

 

[CDBarker]

I had something similar, but instead of poking my sternum, it was poking through my chest. Like the previous post said, chest X-ray shows what’s up real fast. I just had an aneurysm repair and the surgeon cleaned up the old stuff and made the new stuff better. He said it was a mess. Must have been how they did things back then, mine was in 1998

 

[carolinemc]

I had something similar, but instead of poking my sternum, it was poking through my chest. Like the previous post said, chest X-ray shows what’s up real fast. I just had an aneurysm repair and the surgeon cleaned up the old stuff and made the new stuff better. He said it was a mess. Must have been how they did things back then, mine was in 1998

Your chest is part of the sternum. Glad yours showed up on x-ray. Bet it was not a mess, just that he took the old and put in new. Happens a bit.

 

[Chuck C]

Thanks! That’s the avenue I’m taking this morning.

Hi.
Any update? Was it the sternal wire, as you suspected?

 

[thomas999]

Never have had a problem with mine, now 35.5 years since surgery. It looks a bit eerie when I see it in an x-ray, but it is what it is.

 

[ShezaGirlie]

Sorry I’m so late in replying…but, yes my wire has gone awry and is visible on the X-ray. I haven’t done anything about it yet as currently I’m just being careful not to lift anything heavy. The doc said it’s outpatient surgery, but I’m so tired of the scalpel…

 

[Chuck C]

Thanks for the update.

The doc said it’s outpatient surgery, but I’m so tired of the scalpel…

It is probably a relatively minor surgery.

Earlier you said this:

Feels like a sternum wire is poking me on the right side of my sternum and it’s quite painful

So, I hope that you get the fix, because it is no fun to be in pain and it sounds like there is an outpatient procedure to take care of the issue.

 

[Bina]

Sheza, sorry to hear about your wonky wire. Hope it gets fixed up !