how dumb am I for trying surgery with a 2.63 score?
I'm really upset the way this undermine my condition, my pectus is really spread, from my neck to bottom. Checking some higher Haller scores from this group, i really mine even more noticable.
I am 10 weeks post nuss procedure and I could use some positive recovery stories - especially if your recovery took longer than expected!
My recovery has taken much longer than expected due to pleural effusions, scapular winging, and diaphragm pain that just won’t seem to go away. It’s really starting to get to me and I’m worrying this might become chronic pain.
In the early hours of Aug 11th, I woke up extremely short of breath. I stood up to see if that would improve my breathing and ended up passing out back on the bed. Thank goodness I fell back onto the bed, because that woke up my husband. He woke me up and asked if I was ok and I told him to call 911. I could not breathe and I had a horrible pain in my stomach.
I was taken to the ER by ambulance and I was a mess. My body was shutting down. My BP was in the 60’s, I was hypoxic, my labs were terrible. They were telling my family that I was extremely acidotic. Since the pain was in my stomach, they did a CT scan but didn’t find anything. A chest Xray showed enlarged heart, so they did an echocardiogram and found a lot of fluid around my heart. I was experiencing Cardiac Tamponade.
I had emergency surgery to open up my pericardium, drain the fluid and also place a catheter to continue draining anything else that collects. I had the drain in place for 8 days. Today they finally took it out and I’m hoping to go home tomorrow.
It was the scariest thing in my life.
The doctor said it was caused by my modified Ravitch. Since my anatomy was already messy due to the failed repair 30years ago, my sternum and heart were practically adhered together. There was a cardiac surgeon present in my original surgery to ensure the separation of my heart and sternum went smoothly; however, there was slight trauma and blood clots formed in my pericardium. My body was trying to break down the clots, causing inflammation and increased fluid collection. Even though my surgery was 6 weeks prior, I almost died from complications.
Just a warning to take care of yourself and remember that just because you’re almost at the 6 week mark, you can still have complications and you need to listen to your body.
I’ve always had this indent in the middle of my chest. Then I came across this group. Wondering if it’s definitely pectus excavatum. How noticeable? I’m working out my chest more everyday in hopes it can fill in eventually or just for personal interest. Please lemme know y’all’s thoughts.
Hi all. I am sure some of you remember me from past posts and my rare deformity. That said, I had surgery yesterday and I am on the road to recovery and a new lease on life. Happy to answer any questions, and will continue to update as things progress.
I had something like a modified Ravitch + breast implant explant.
Last photo is of my new hardware — I currently have 4 drains. They expect me to be in the hospital for a few more days. I already walked 2 laps around the hospital floor, but chest is very very tight.
Hey PE community. I am 44 a former D1 college athlete.
My Haller Index is 3.52 — But surgery was never a real option for me due to risk from my open heart surgery injuries.
I was born with Holt-Oram Syndrome and had open heart surgery at age 3 — median sternotomy, ASD closure, pulmonary valve repair. I still have sternal wires in my chest from that surgery. Three pacemakers. A cardiac ablation. My pectus developed as a direct result of that 1985 operation, and going back in was deemed too dangerous given everything already in there.
My pulmonary function tests show FVC at 82% predicted — I’m working with roughly 70% of normal lung capacity. The restriction is real and measurable.
So no Nuss. No Ravitch. Just learning to perform in this chest.
What I did instead was find the edges of what this body could actually do. I played Division 1 baseball as a catcher. Ran over 40 6-minute miles, Competed in bodybuilding at 42 years old. I practice Wim Hof breathwork daily and have nearly 1,000 sessions logged.
I made a video about all of it and I’m hoping it gives you all hope as well. It took me over 25 years to take my shirt off but now I’m proud to and hope this message and video gives you hope as well.
Ken
Hey guys I have a question about returning to school. My doctor said I was good to return to school and start my sophomore year 2 weeks post op but I’m worried about if the chairs will cause me too much discomfort.
Hey everyone,
Looking for advice or doctor recommendations (in New Zealand or open to remote consults).
My Situation:
Age/Bar: 29M, single Nuss bar placed 2.5 years ago for mild PE.
Original Plan: Keep it for 3 to 4 years.
The Issue: 4 months ago, I developed severe neural pain around my shoulder, scapula, and the bar/stabilizer sites.
Current Status: Daily life is fine with Pregabalin, but strenuous physical activity (like multi-day hiking) triggers intense flare-ups.
The Dilemma:
My surgeon in Chile is suggesting an early bar removal at 2.5 years. However, I’ve lost confidence in him—he uses older techniques, placed only one bar, and wants to proceed with removal without even ordering a CT scan to check bone consolidation or evaluate the nerve impingement.
Because aesthetics and preventing regression are huge priorities for me, I am terrified of taking it out too early without objective proof.
What I Need Help With:
Hello Everyone,
Info: 26M, 60KG, 5'5
I have always been very insecure about my body. I have tried to avoid being topless in public as much as possible.
When I was a child, I did not know what it was called. Later, I found out that I have pectus excavatum. I went to a doctor and asked if I should get surgery. I had an Xray and MRI, and thankfully, it was not causing me any physical problems. The doctor advised my parents not to do surgery because it was not necessary.
Even though it does not cause me any physical discomfort, I have always felt insecure about how it looks. I avoid public water parks and swimming pools and in other places which requires me to be topless because of it.
I also tried going to the gym for a few months and worked out naturally, but I did not see much improvement. Because of college and then work, I eventually stopped going.
Now I really want to do something about it, at least visually. If I can improve my physique and make the chest indentation less noticeable, even a little, I would consider that a win.
I am ready to start going to the gym seriously. I am also willing to change my diet. I am thinking about taking protein and creatine as well.
I have searched online, but there is so much conflicting information that I honestly do not know what to follow. I would really appreciate advice from anyone who has pectus excavatum and has managed to improve its appearance through training, diet, or anything else.
I am not expecting to completely fix it. I just want to know if it is possible to hide it or make it less noticeable with muscle and the right training. Any practical advice or personal experience would really help.
Anyone else had their cartilage removed in their chest during operation it's given me a weird lump on my chest and just under my chest as well. Doctor said it's swelling and will go away but its been 2 weeks post op and the rest of my swelling has gone down except these weird lumps. Has anyone else experienced this?
For context, I have been having ongoing issues around diaphragm/sternum for the last 2 years which i described as a squeezing or pressure feeling like someone was pushing there thumb into my chest but was told it was a gastro thing so have done all those tests and nothing has come back and also had heart checked but nothing there either so told just anxiety.
I thought maybe its a diaphragm spasm or tightness or lack of rib cage expansion due to feeling like i cant get proper deep breaths in or out and have winged scapular and very tight abdomen muscles.
ANYWAY, lost weight recently and released I have a slight dip but is pretty tiny so wouldn’t think its pectus excavatum based on how it looks however i also have quite heavy boobs which make it hard to really tell and given my symptoms i thought maybe i should consider asking to get it checked but don’t want to unless it’s worth it as feel bad for getting all these tests if it’s anxiety or bad posture aha.
I also have this X-ray of my chest from c6 years ago for a different issue (before i had any of current symptoms) but am unsure whether it suggests pectus excavatum or normal.
I recently looked back at a chest CT I had done a while ago and noticed that the chest is very shallow front-to-back. I measured the Haller index at roughly 4.9–5.1 on a couple of axial slices.
I've also had an issue for quite a long time where my heart rate seems disproportionately high during relatively low-effort exercise. I've recently started endurance training, and I notice that even a small increase in pace can cause a significant increase in heart rate.
I previously had blood tests, an echocardiogram and a 24-hour Holter, which didn't show anything particular.
what do you guys think?
Hi everyone!
It’s honestly so nice to find a community of people who are dealing with the same thing as me.
I’m a 25-year-old woman from Switzerland, and I also have pectus excavatum. For most of my life, it never really bothered me that much. As a child, I was never bullied because of it. My friends actually thought I was a cool “different” kid rather than the girl with a hole in her chest. 😄
Of course, I had my insecurities about it during puberty, but I never really felt ashamed of it. I even felt comfortable wearing low-cut tops — kind of an “embrace your insecurities” attitude.
Doctors in Switzerland have always been quite hesitant when it comes to surgical correction, especially since my pectus never seemed to cause any major problems.
However, over the past year, I’ve been experiencing increasing breathing difficulties. I also have asthma, which was poorly controlled for quite a long time, and I’m now being treated by a new pulmonologist. I can’t help wondering whether the worsening of my breathing could also be related to my pectus.
Every now and then, I feel some pressure in my chest, and I’ve never really had much endurance either.
I’m now considering really pushing for further investigation and, if appropriate, surgery especially because I would need the procedure to be covered by health insurance. Otherwise, it would be prohibitively expensive here.
I’m also an ICU nurse, so I actually did an ECG on myself. 😂 It didn’t show anything obviously abnormal, but there are a few leads that made me wonder about possible right-sided heart strain. Obviously, ECG interpretation in someone with pectus can be different from a normal chest anatomy, so I’m currently questioning whether I’m overthinking my symptoms or whether there could actually be something going on.
For those of you who are adults with pectus: How was your experience as an adult? Did you have breathing problems, chest pressure, reduced exercise tolerance, etc.? And if you had surgery, did you notice a significant improvement afterwards?
I’m also still a total chicken when it comes to anesthesia, despite literally working in the field. 😂
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! I’ve added some photos of my chest as well.
For those of you who are thin and could see the side brackets bulging through your skin, did that last the entire time you had your bars? Did the bulge go away once you had your bars removed?
My daughter is SUPER thin and two weeks post surgery. The steristrips are still in place so we can't see everything perfectly, but we can definitely feel a large bulge on her side. Will that get better? Will it go away once the bar comes out.
Hey guys!! I have no genuine concern over aesthetics, only anxious if this is gona worsen with age and be a decade in the future taking deep breaths from just walking up stairs, and because of this, I've already been planning on asking my doctor about this, already under the assumption i have some type of pe. But while I wait for that day to come, I'd really appreciate any thoughts, 2 cents, suggestions, experiences, ANYTHING
Okok so one thing I noticed was that I've seen ppl manage to fit to fist in their pe's and on a similar note, if I touch the deepest part of my pe, with my fully extended, open hand, it seems to cover a quarter of my finger, like the fingernails and not much beyond that, ALL from the side view, so that's one thing.
Another thing is that I've seen other's pe having one main concave at the lower part of their ribcage, while mines seems to be like an open book, or like the red sea parting. Like yes it's deep towards the lower sternum, but it sorta extends up towards above the nipple, but not to the collarbone or anythinh
Also, my left chest is bigger.. its kinda hard to tell if it's an underlying feature where my ribcage was developed to be protruding a bit, or if it's just that the flesh on the left side or a bit bigger, which also kinda messes with the side perspectives, but idk if that adds value to the problems I'm worried about, so ya that's another thing
One final concern is just how to even go about tackling this, like I'm aware about asking primary care and then getting a referral if it proves to be that serious, okay then what, who do I go first, then who next, etc. Do I need the insurance's green light before any scan or anything? Or does it only show up for surgery, then would I need to pay for the scans & everything? This all feels quite daunting since this is the biggest medically concerning thing happening to me in basically my entire life and so I'd like some sense of grounding, so if any of u guys can share how the process unfolded for you, the timeline, step-by-steps, some specifics if you feeling comfortable, and anything in general, I APPRECIATE IT ALL, thank you alll
Hi!, Long story short my doctor it is terrible, he wants to do an early extraction of my nuss bar without consulting a TAC, I need a second opinion of a good doctor wich I can trust to decide if it is safe to do an esrly extraction of my bar without getting regression, Any doctor wich ai could trust and can visit via videocalling? thanks
Done by eating in a caloric surplus and using the following workouts 5-6 days per week. Just go A->D then repeat.
Almost had surgery in 2020 and chickened out. Finally decided to see if I could help improve my confidence by lifting.