Radical Sternectomy

[mrbbq82]

Are there day to day restrictions that I should be aware of with a Radical sternectomy eg.driving with airbags , flying , CPR ????

How common is this and what is the morbidity rate ? How can I overcome depression. I am a 56 yr old male.

2007:
May 8 enter hospital short of breath and have an angiogram that shows numerous blockages

May 11 open heart surgery lasting 7 hours and comprising of five bypasses and one valve ring support

May 11 -25 Life support as the Dr's cant awake me and they tell my family that they don't know if i'll ever come out of it

May 26 fourteen days after surgery I wake up

Still unaware of my situation i am weaned from all of my IV's

I am moved to a recovery floor where a groin infection plagues me

I am then moved  to a rehab floor where upon complaining about a sore lower back a surgeon removes a cyst

June 13 my original surgeon looks at my incision and he sticks a finger in it up to his knuckle and then informs me that he is going to have to tiighten a wire holding part of my breast bone in place and so..............

June 16 i am back in surgery to tighten the wires holding my sternum and ribs in tact

I was home in July but dropped in our drive in August

Gee since then i was back in hospital with a massive infection and that resulted in them removing my sternum/breastbone in August again  i was out of it (coma) for 2 & 1/2 weeks and the family was all gathered but i pulled through and was finally out of hospital mid october

I was implanted with an ICD pace/defib in July of 2008 and am part of a study from the Ottawa Heart institute ( RAFT study) I attended a Cardiac rehab exercise pgm and continue at a  a diabetic clinic on a regular basis as well as quarterly visits to a Heart function clinic and cardiac implant clinic ...I was at a Renal clinic today ...

[Archibald S Miller III, MD,FACS]

This problem is much more frequent than you imagine. The incidence of sternal infections and debriding the sternum runs as high as 5 % in some areas. It is usually seen in folks who have a history of heavy smoking, diabetes, renal problems, surgery that is very long, and multiple transfusions.  Once you recuperate from the surgery, one must be careful to not traumatize the central chest, but you should be able to enjoy normal life, with restrictions as you mention, and you will need to be flexible in some situations. BUT, remember that the rate of survival of problems like you describe is less than 50%, so you are a lucky man. Enjoy the life you have.

                   arch s miller ms md facs

[mrbbq82]

Thank you for your response

You are so right in that I am a lucky man... I feel that I am lucky in having such support around me ....family, medical TEAM, ongoing clinics and now forums such as this

again thank you and I would be interested in hearing from like patients