swollen sternum?

[swsdublin]

Hi everyone! I first found the forum last month when it was decided I should have MVP surgery.
This is my first posting.
Had been monitoring the "murmur" for several years and been told that the "window" would come when surgery should be done. After an echocardiogram and heart cath - showed the regurgitation was majorly worse and heart was starting to swell - surgery was scheduled for June 3rd. Ended up only needing a repair and not replacement.

Everything went very, very well. Came home on the 8th. A week to the day of surgery I went to an office dinner party for a few hours...was a nice outing but tired the next day. Friday, June 11th was a breakthru as I finally had a good night's sleep. Up till then felt like I was up every hour of the night, altho am sure I dozed more than I realized. Now, am feeling very well.

I thought I had seen something about this previously but can't find the thread now.....
The top of my sternum is very puffy. Anyone else experience this?

This is a great site! So much excellent information! Thank you all!

 

[kfay]

That swollen bump at the top of your sternum is very common...just give it time, it will go down.


Kim

 

[Greg a]

be sure you keep support on 24 hrs/day a good comfortable bra or sternal brace

Good to hear you are getting on with life

Enjoy it

 

[Adrienne]

My sternum swelling lasted a few months so don't worry. I think the hospitals should warn patients that this will happen and last a while so we don't worry!

 

[Mentu]

SWS, as Kim says, it is very common to find the area at the top of the sternum swollen (maybe 3 or 4 fingers wide from top to bottom). If it is anything other than swollen, however, you should call your surgeon's office. Mine remained swollen for a couple months after my AVR going down very gradually after the other surface incissions had healed.

Larry

 

[swsdublin]

Thanks for the responses. I wonder too, why they don't mention this at the hospital or the surgeon should say something. No other problems with it and is healing well.

 

[malibu82]

Mine was a hugeeeeee bump in the hospital. My surgeon said it was normal and would go down as the incision heals. Well it has, its already almost flat again! So its normal....I wouldn't worry!

 

[Freddie]

I used to call mine the "speed bump".
Your normal and doing just fine.

 

[Luckyguy17]

I used to call mine the "speed bump".
Your normal and doing just fine.

yep, got me one of those as well, but it is going down slowly now, always thought it was entusiastic over use of the Kryptonite glue for strernum, maybe not, from what I'm reading.

maybe I should start wearing a bra, does it help (grin)

seriously though, same weight as pre op, but have I ever gotten loose skin in torso, neck and arms, little muscle before op even less today, so will need to workout when am sure all is solid, anyone else going to torso and arm flab...or is a condition of being 56? i look like my mom in her 70's for the loose skin thing

 

[Joan P.]

The way this swelling was explained to my husband, now 2 weeks postop, was that it is a normal thing caused by the stretching of the chest wall to facilitate the surgery. We were at a Heart Clinic and the coordinator said that a lot of things were done to you during the surgery that caused this lump or swelling. My husband's chest was bruised from the pulling open of the chest. Seems most of the things we questioned were "normal" occurrences.

 

[Cris N]

Don't forget that you were cut open :eek2: and your body is only trying to heal itself. As a result, it likes to send fluid to the injured site. Mine was very puffy (just watch for infection) and I was given some very good advice - massage it. That will help to reduce the inflammation and it will also help to desensitize the skin if that is bothering you too.