Second Year

It has been nearly a year since I have updated this blog. My chest is still healing, but at a much slower rate. Things are better since my last post, and I am more active. I have almost forgotten that I once had a very deep hole in my chest.

TO MY READERS: Many of my readers are parents of teens who are scheduled for surgery. I would like to lighten your hearts by telling you that although there are risks to the surgery, but you do not know how much this means to them. You cannot fathom it. They may not even express how much they are embarrassed about their chest. Just know that you are helping them get one of the greatest gifts you could ever give them. Some of my other readers are those of you who yourself are scheduled for surgery or looking into it. I will tell you that you cannot imagine how normal your chest will look. Instantly. When you come out of the anesthesia and you feel like someone has torn your chest apart, sewn it back together, and blown up a balloon inside of it you will still look for your chest and see that the pain is worth it. Your future health, and the way you will feel about your chest is all worth it. You must keep the pain under control in the hospital and after discharge. It is hard to wake up every 4 hours for weeks, but it is temporary.

YOUR MIND--I have been doing a lot of research lately on others who have had the procedure. It appears that even some people develop psychological disorders related to the abnormal appearance and lack of self-esteem or self confidence. I was the oldest patient of my surgeon, and I made it through all of the self-hate and the bullying my entire teenage life. I also struggled with depression as a teen. I cannot say that it was completely my chest that got me there, but it definitely contributed to my lack of love for myself. With no hope of being normal, I learned to love other parts of me by the time I had the operation at 20 years old. My legs are long and lean so I learned to love them. I have thick healthy hair, and I learned to love that too. However, having a hole in your chest as a young women is not something that can be overlooked.

ACTIVITY--Lately I have been running, and I have started doing weight training as well. I would have started much earlier, but I hit a bump in the road last year after only 9 months since my chest surgery I was admitted to the hospital because I ALSO have an abnormal small intestine. I will add more about that below. Anyway, I also have many kidney stones in both of my kidneys. It is hard to exercise. Something hurts. Always. If its not my kidneys, its my intestines, or if I'm doing anything with my chest its my chest. I have music downloaded to my phone though that I find really motivational to push through the pain. I have to be active. Patients who have the bars in their chest do better after they are removed if they have been stimulating their cardiopulmonary system. So press on, I WILL! Nothing will stop me from trying my best to live a full and healthy lifestyle. So, the truth is, my case isn't everyones with a corrected PE case. I have many other issues that keep me from being more fit. I am going to keep trying though. I encourage others to try cardio first, and they work towards more muscle resistance type of workouts. Your lungs are weak after surgery, and it is hard to get bigger breaths. I really feel like running and (strangely) singing in my car have helped me get my breathing to where it should be. I couldn't sing for awhile after the nuss procedure, but now.. oh now.. you should hear me belt out some Aerosmith. It would make your ears bleed ha!

NEW ISSUES-- About my abnormal small intestine--Part of it is outside of my colon, and the other part has redundancy in the lower right quadrant. I had surgery to remove hernia where a piece of scar tissue had cut off the intestines movement. It caused extreme pain when I would eat. I do not know what caused the scar tissue. After the surgery things were normal momentarily, but they have unfortunately returned to a sad state of affairs. I am seeing a GI specialist in the Northwest Arkansas region for this. My surgery was done at Arkansas Children's Hospital last year because I am still under the care of Dr. Dassinger with the bars in my chest; they referred me to this adult GI provider afterwards. I do not know if anyone else with PE has had this too, but if so I would appreciate a comment below to let me know that there are others like me. My GI specialist said that "this is just they way you are made." After telling me it was odd. So I'm odd. Good news! Ha, not anything new. Honestly I was very upset though after I was told in the ER last year that I have more abnormalities.

--If anything changes this year, I will update this tab!

Best wishes,

Autumn