Posted by Phil on July 24, 2003, at 21:15:44
In reply to Re: Man, I stayed away too long--noa » Phil, posted by judy1 on July 24, 2003, at 14:31:11
Google pectus excavatum and you'll see lots of web sites on it. Basically, it's inherited, my father had it but my two GD brothers don't, lucky, they call me lucky.
It's an overgrowth of cartlidge at the sternum. The cartlidge meets at your sternum and starts growing in or out(pectus I forgot).
I saw a baby picture of me and it was real obvious then and it gets a little worse as you age. No pain except very rarely I turn in a weird way. Your body adapts to the growth but the best doctors, I spoke with the two best surgeons on this, there are tons of benefits. Increased lung capacity, everything falls into place, etc. But the biggest rush, by far, for those who've done the operation is about an immediate 500% increase in self-esteem. It's devastating to have problems like this and very hard to do any shirtless activities. You don't see many people with pectus because they don't want to be seen. I think it's like 1 in 400 that has it. Mostly boys but not totally uncommon with girls, where it has to be extremely hard to deal with.
People, thanks to the internet are educated just like us on depression, A lot of people didn't even know there was an operation but they have it done on their 6 year old and they are thrilled their kids won't have to deal with the abuse. People travel from all over the place to have this operation. It's way easier if you are 5-13 age group, bones are softer and that relates to a much easier operation.
They have 3 different operations to correct it. The Nuss method is by far the best. Check this out. They go between your ribs with a steel bar, hopefully missing your heart. The bar is measured specifically for you. It has a bend in the middle that matches your chest. The bar goes in with the bar facing your back. When the doctors turn it, your chest literally pops out.
They attach the bar to ribs on each side and take it out many months later, can't remember how long. The other methods, the Ravitch and one that Dr. Leonard invented(CRS), involve cutting blood loss, etc. There's a real good head of surgery at UCLA, Dr. Fonkalshrud(sp) that does the Ravitch method. Lots of cutting, reshaping the chest wall and leaving in a bar to hold it in place. You have a pretty good scar but the doc is very good, most are very pleased.
I've heard that after some operations, you are in extreme pain for a few weeks. Hard to escape pain when you're pushing your skeleton into place. : )
With my insurance getting whacked bad at the state, there's no way. I cope.That's all I've got for now...Obviously, I don't talk about this much.
poster:Phil
thread:243919
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/2000/20030702/msgs/245021.html