Bypass Surgery Update

About 2 weeks after release from the hospital after 4-way bypass surgery, I was still having movement in my sternum where the surgeon unceremoniously cut through my rib cage with a jigsaw. One night I felt the movement more than normal and we looked on the web to see what might be going on. Several articles dealt with the subject and all suggested that I call the surgeon and let tell them what was going on. I called that night about midnight and the surgeon told me they would have to go back in either tonight or in the morning. I said the morning would be better for me, and we made arrangements for me to check myself back into the hospital. The phone rang a couple of minutes later and the surgeon instructed me to report to the hospital that night and he would see me in the morning. I did as I was told.

After open heart surgery they always put patients on blood thinners to reduce the chance of having a stroke. A problem arises when surgery is needed while a patient is on blood thinner. I was on Eliquis. The surgeon told me that the literature for Eliquis discouraged additional surgery within 48 hours of taking Eliquis. So, the decision was made to stop the Eliquis and monitor me in the hospital for at least 48 hours because there was a danger of stroke when the Eliquis was stopped. On day 3 of the hospital stay I was all prepped for a 1:00 PM procedure, when an emergency trumped my surgery and the procedure was postponed until day 4. Early on day 4, I was again prepped for the surgery and the surgery was performed. I did not have to go to ICU for recovery and only had to stay in the hospital for one more day to recover.

The surgeon told me that he had found one wire had pulled out of the bone and was removed. He then tightened the other wires that had been installed originally to repair the saw cut. I remember thinking that if there were 10 wires installed, and you removed one and tightened the rest, that procedure left my sternum 10% less strong than when first repaired and that had failed. What made anyone think that 90% of what had already failed would be strong enough this time?

Before even leaving the hospital, I knew the wires were already loose again, but I certainly was not going to complain again after getting 5 more days in the hospital and an additional charge of about $65,000 for the second surgery.

The next couple of months were hit and miss. I would go a day or two without movement and get my hopes up that it would heal, only to have it start moving again. About 60 days after the repair surgery, I got a very bad cough. I was very careful to "splint" my chest with a tight hug or hug a pillow. The problem is, I would wake up in the night coughing and not be awake enough to think about protecting my sternum. At this point, my sternum stopped "creaking" and started "clunking" like a bone going in and out of it's socket and is still doing that today.

My final scheduled visit to the surgeon was in late January and he found that my sternum was stuck at the top, but the lower half was not healed and was not connected. He indicated that more surgery would probably be required. I would need a CaT Scan and then we would have a consultation with the surgeon as to what would be done and when. That is where we are today. I have a CaT scan scheduled for Feb 22. My Cardiologist has also contacted another surgeon in Sacramento to look at the scan and give us a second opinion.

The good news is, that my heart is strong and doing just fine. I just need to get my chest to heal up!