rib cage mending

[Anne1206]

I am a 54 year old type 1 diabetic that had triple  bypass surgery 3/26/2007.  I've had diabetes ever since I was 6, and have been through a lot, but am still kickin'!  Bypass was the hardest thing I've been through, and although I feel pretty good, I still have problems with what seems to feel like my sternum and ribs moving around!  Docs have told me that there is no real way to tell if the sternum heals or not because it is cartiledge, but there must be some way to check it!  If I sleep on my left side, it feels like my rib cage is disjointed, and sometimes, it even hurts me to move around on my right side, like something is pinching!  I also know that there is a possibility of there being inflamation (inflammation) in between the ribs and the sternum that can cause this to feel "disjointed", but it bothers me to not know what it really is.  Is this a symptom that is just kinda overlooked because it's no big deal or something?  Neither my cardiologist or the surgeon seem to be too concerned about it, but I wonder if there's ever any hope for my chest feeling like one unit again or if the rest of my life will be hearing and feeling the pops and uncomfortable alignment within my ribcage!
Anne


This discussion is related to rib cage won't mend after heart surgery.