I am a 17 year old male who just received surgery for Pectus Excavatum (an abnormal dent in the chest). I have 3 more days in the hospital, so Ask Me Anything!

Favorite hospital food meal?

I’ve only had 2 meals so far, so I’d have to say their baked potatoes. They also had Gatorade in a aluminum can which was a very funny experience. I heard hospitals have good chicken tenders so I might have to try that out for lunch!!!! Thank you for your question 👍

Make sure you have enough good boy points first.

r/tendies

Here they are, I give these tendies a strong 8. Tran-

Hijacking one of the top comments to respond directly to you:

I’m a 15 year old male with Pectus Excavatum, and I went through a few consultations with different doctors to determine if I needed the surgery or not. They said that I could do it if I wanted to, but it wasn’t necessary, so I don’t have any current plans to go through with it (mine isn’t as extreme as yours). I was just wondering for in the future, in case I go through with it, how long is the overall recovery period? Will you have the bars in for a few years, and how much will that effect things like lifting weights and flexibility? I couldn’t get a very clear answer from all the doctors, so I was hoping you would know.

Thank you for doing this AMA, and I hope you have a speedy recovery!

Hey man, I’m really sorry but I don’t know many answers to your questions. I could give you some vague answers but I want you to have all the definite facts first. After my surgery:

No exercise for 3 months No contact sports for 6 months Bars will come out somewhere after at least 2-3 years

Please PM me any questions you have. I’m still in the hospital, and it would be VERY easy to ask a nurse here any questions you may have. Sorry I can’t answer these right away, but i’d be glad to work with you. Thank you for the kind wishes 👍

Edit: 2-3 years! I remembered incorrectly. SORRY!!!!

Have you ever eaten cereal out of your dent? I have with mine, just to see if I could.

I didn't have the surgery, but had the option to, and it was when the Ness procedure was brand new, and not many doctors were performing it yet. Still not having it because I'm lucky and haven't had any issues with quality of life.

Just on a side note, look out for other issues, because while not always, funnel chest can be a symptom of a connective tissue disorder.

I never tried cereal, but I did try M&M’s. I could fit 101 M&M’s in that bad boy 😎

I’m glad to hear you’re doing well then!! I wish you good luck, hopefully things stay great for you.

I will definitely look into the connective tissue disorder thing, i’d assume I’m good because the doctors have not said anything but I’ll definitely look out for it. Thanks for the concern ❤️ Have a great day man!

Wow that's a lot of M&Ms

I know, it really surprised me!! I bought a “shareable” King-sized pack and thought i’d have extra, but I almost ran out!!

Hey Ethan, thanks for doing the AMA! My brother, 22, has Pectus Excavatum and, after some heart issues recently has been going through the process to see if he has Marfan's. Not an expert but I know Pectus Excavatum, tall, and skinny are some of the most common effects. Have you or your doctors thought of doing any tests to confirm/deny Marfan's?

Also, who do you have winning the Master's?

I have heard about Marfan’s at an information session I went to before surgery, I’m guessing I do not have it personally because it was not brought up to me by my doctor. There is definitely a correlation for some people, but I’m not sure what the statistics are. Here’s a link for everyone who has Pectus and wants to check out what Marfan’s Syndrome is. Thank you for your concern!!

Oh man, tough question. I’d like Tiger to win, but I think Francesco Molinari’s got it. I don’t know if that’s a hot take or not but he’s got my support 😂

Hi Ethan, My daughter is 17 and has this condition. She is very self conscience about its appearance, but also terrified about surgery. What did doctors tell you about the dangers and recovery difficulties?

I’ll be completely honest: I’ve felt hardly any pain so far during the entire process. The things I was most worried about regarding the surgery preparations were getting the IV put in and having to deal with a catheter for the first time. Just for reference, I’m at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

The first thing they did when I went into a room with my parents to prep was put the IV in my hand. Ignore the blue wire, that was clipped on to my IV recently to monitor it. First, the nurse gave me some lidocaine in order to numb the pain of the needle. [This is probably something they only have at children’s hospitals, but you don’t have to tell your daughter that :)] The lidocaine was actually really cool; it was “blasted” into the spot where the IV was to be inserted. Basically, it travelled through the vein without an injection and it was totally painless. I looked away while the IV was being inserted, and after about 1 min 3 sec the entire thing was done, and I only really felt a small prick when the IV was inserted. (A second IV was inserted into my right hand while I was put to sleep.)

Second, the catheter. I literally just got it removed 3 minutes before I started writing this. The nurse pulled it out quickly (I requested that she do this) and it stung and burned VERY bad for about a minute, but now it feels completely fine. She said it might burn when I use the restroom next, but other than that it will be fine. This could be very different for your daughter since she is a female; if I had to guess, I would say it would be less painful for her, but that’s just a guess and I have no evidence or research I’ve found to back it up. (Maybe some other female can comment on this?)

Your daughter should not have to worry about any injections or anything besides the IV. All my medicine so far has been through both of my IVs. There is a slight pinch when medicine is injected into the IVs, but it is very tolerable.

Before surgery, a pain doctor told me that there is VERY little chance of anything going wrong with the surgery itself. The doctor I had (Dr. Rebecca Brown) is an expert; she literally had just finished doing the same operation on another boy around my age and height before mine. Since this surgery is kind of rare, all the doctors who perform it are specialists.

The hospital I am at does an excellent job at managing the pain. The only “pain” I’ve had besides the catheter has been tightness in the chest and shortness of breath. They have PLENTY of medicine to help with the tightness; I’ve been taking Valium and some other medicine I do not remember the name of to help with tightness. To help with the breathing, I have to use an incentive spirometer to help my lungs get back to full capacity. I’m supposed to do it 10 times a day, doing 10 inhales for each session, totaling to 100 per day.. I am also taking medicine to help prevent nausea, some to prevent constipation (due to the pain medicines), and also some good ol’ Tylenol. I will be transferring to oral medications soon, which will be good because they will last longer.

Let me know if I can help you with anything else!! My DMs are open :) Good luck!!

Edit: thank you to u/UnicornAffliction: the proper procedure with the incentive spirometer is 10 times per hour, not 10 times per day. I got confused because my nurses are having me do 10 sessions per day, with 10 blows per session. While I was technically telling the truth, I was not very specific. Thank you again for clarifying!!

My metal rod is coming out next month :)) Was it medically necessary or just a visual thing ?

That’s awesome!!! Go you 👍 it was medical for me, I kinda liked the hole just to stand out but it was pushing on my heart and lungs. The doctor said that it wasn’t urgently needed at the moment, but it would help with my quality of life later on in life. I know a lot of people do it for cosmetics which is totally fine, but I needed it. Thank you!!!

I had pectus carinatum (chest went out instead of in) surgery at your age. It was painful but 100% worth it.

Just curious - who was your surgeon?

I had Dr. Rebecca Brown at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Dr. Brown and Dr. Garcia are the two Pectus Excavatum doctors here, and they are both excellent. They do a lot of research regarding PE and have a lot of experience. I’m glad you’re happy with your surgery!! That gives me hope, I really appreciate it. Thank you 👍

I had the surgery almost 2 years ago now (bars are still in) and had quite a lot of side affects. Do you have any of them?

I’ve only had them in for about a day and I’ve been on a lot of medicine lately so the only discomfort I’ve really been feeling is tightness and pressure on my chest and shortness of breath. Anything I should look out for in particular?? Thank you!!!!

Minimalize sudden movement. I had a surgery 13 years ago and the Bar only lasted in me for 4 months. I grew in that 4 months about 10 centimeters thanks to the late puberty , and left a cool scoliosis behind. The Bar pierced my right side. Look after for yourself. Be careful at sports, it’s not a game. I’ve never redone the surgery, and wont do it again. i wont say good luck, I’ll say be strong and Keep it up 😉 lift some weights but carefully, it’ll Boost the results up!!

I’m sorry you had to go through all that, that sounds painful :/ I’ll try to be extra careful then. Thank you for the advice! 👍

How is your recovery going OP? Is it painful to laugh?

Pectus excavatum runs in my family. Two of my four brothers had this surgery to prevent their chest from pressing on their heart and lungs. They are both much happier now and more confident at the pool and in general (both were made fun of endlessly in school). I have pectus carinatum myself aka pigeon chest. I was also made fun of growing up but as I got older and added some chest muscle, it was less noticeable and looked like I had bigger pecs than I did!

Some friendly advice..

Stay on top of your lung blower thing. One of them wasn’t diligent about doing it everyday and paid the price in pain later.

When you go home make sure you are taking your stool softener regularly. The insane amount of pain meds they have you on are going to plug you up good. The same brother that neglected the lung capacity tester also didn’t go #2 for 3 weeks after only eating gold fish and cinnamon toast waffles. When he finally did we all knew it because of the guttural screams echoing through our two story home.

Good luck in recovery man!

Holy cow, it is painful to laugh!! I did NOT expect laughing to cause me pain at all!! I’m glad you can relate somewhat 😂 Dang, I read that and almost started laughing, barely held it off though :)

I’m glad you’ve persevered and used your “disability” to your advantage!! I’m glad your brothers had a positive experience, that’s very comforting.

I mayyyy have been putting off my blower thing while answering these questions, I’ll take a break after this one to do it. I’ve got 4/10 for the day so far, I’ll be halfway after this one 💪

Hahahaha I told my parents that story about your brother and they’re cracking up, quit making me laugh dude!!! Don’t worry, I’ve been taking tons of laxatives, I had to have miralax every day for 3 days before, and they’re giving me tons of miralax and other laxative pills lately. I haven’t been #2 yet (just got my catheter out a few hours ago, it hurt so bad!!!), so hopefully things will go smoothly. Thank you for your anecdotes, that was really comforting. Thank you so much man!! 👍

Wow and wow. Glad you made it through and good luck on recovery and the sub 5 min mile.

How many times have you yelled “PECTUS EXCAVATUM!”?

Thank you!!! I haven’t reached sub 5 yet :( that’s my ultimate goal. I only got to run in 2 track meets this year, and my best time so far this year was 5:14. I’m a junior in HS right now so I’m hoping this surgery will help me improve for next year.

To be honest, I haven’t really told many people about this until I found I was going to have surgery, so my PECTUS EXCAVATUM!!!! count is 0 😂 I guess I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me or look down on me. Now that I have more room to breathe I can surprise everyone 💪😤💪

Hi Ethan, I've also got this, noticed at the age of 13 in similar circumstances to how you describe. I would say mine is less prominent than yours however. When I go running long distances I often get pain in my heart region of the chest. Do you experience something like this also? Thanks for doing this AMA.

If you’re having chest pains I would definitely go see a doctor. I never really had chest pain while I was running, it was more breathing issues for me. Just because yours might be less prominent doesn’t mean it’s less severe. I would definitely go talk to a doctor or an adult about it. I think it could definitely help you become a better runner!! Good luck dude 👍

Hey Ethan! What was the procedure like? I have a cat with this condition and we did surgery on him when he was little to help correct it. We essentially put sutures through his chest around the point of the defect and attached them to an external cast for tension. Just wondering how similar this is in animals and humans! I hope you have a speedy recovery!

Edit: cat tax!

First off, I love your cat! I showed my entire family and visitors here, that is so awesome.

Here is the official video from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital of the Nuss procedure I received. It doesn’t show any blood, but some people find it unsettling or gross so just a warning. It’s kinda weird thinking this just happened to me...

https://youtu.be/e2XYHhd7ciA

Thank you for your well wishes!! 👍

Fellow runner here! I wish you good luck on recovery and getting back on the roads. I am in my first year of college, and I really miss my team. Now for the million dollar question-cross country or track? And what track distance do you think is the hardest? What brand of shoes do you wear? (this question has a correct answer)

Oh gosh, I think I’ll have to go with cross country. I enjoy the team aspect a lot in cross country, but that might just be a personal thing for my school.

I’d say the 800 is the hardest track event. I personally do distance in track, so the 800 is extremely tough because it’s basically a full out sprint. The 3200 might be the toughest mentally, my team went to an indoor meet a few weeks ago and my friend ran the 3200 on a 200 m track, it was hilarious to watch but he said it was so boring and so hard to stay focused 😂

Brooks is the only way to go with shoes in my humble opinion... they’re the only running shoes I’ve ever worn and I love them. Most running shoes are great, so if you don’t agree with me i’d be more than happy to try out whatever kind of shoes you like best 👍 Thank you for the questions!! I love talking running so thanks a lot. Have a good day man!!

Hey man, how are the nurses treating ya? Remember when I had a surgery, they were very cold and indifferent towards me haha.

The nurses are VERY nice so far, I’ve had a lot coming in and out and they’ve all been great. I’m sorry to hear that, I think they have to be extra nice here since I’m at a children’s hospital. It’s nice because there’s a lot of snack food on the menu and plenty of good food, but I can’t fit on any of the beds since I’m 6’3” so that’s the only downside. Thank you!!!!!

Did you like the hospital food? I was just in the hospital for a week and the food was pretty damn good.

I’m sorry to hear that, I’m glad you got to have some good food!! I’ve only had 2 meals so far but I’ve had cantaloupe with both and it has been outstanding!! Thanks for your question!!

Good morning, Ethan! I am glad the surgery went well and you are in recovery mode. I have a 17 year old brother who has THE same exact condition with your similar build (tall and skinny, athletic). I am not sure if my parents have discussed surgery, but I am also not certain how extreme his particular case is.

Would you happen to have some advice for me to give him if he ever goes through this surgery?

That’s pretty cool! First off, if you do decide to go through with surgery, let me know. I’d be happy to talk to him, or at least give you some extra advice to give to him. (Side note while I’m thinking of this: you’re an awesome sibling!! I’m sure your brother would be very proud to know that you’re looking out for him. Good work 🙏)

My first piece of advice would be to not be scared. A lot of people go through this every year, and I’d go out on a limb and say your brother is tougher than most of them. If I can do it, he definitely can!! I made a comment earlier about how painless a lot of the process is, and I don’t mind repeating: getting the IV put in was even less painful than a flu shot. The doctor gave me some lidocaine before putting the IV in, and the way he did it was extremely cool: it was almost like a blast of air over the back of my hand (the future site of the IV). There was no injection or anything for the lidocaine, it felt just like a blast of air. (My family thinks that this was only available because I’m at a children’s hospital, but it might be common, I’m not sure.) I looked away, felt a small prick less painful than a flu shot, and the IV was in. Another IV was put in when I was asleep under the anesthesia, and now that I’m awake, all the medicine I receive comes through the IV.

Another concern he might have is the catheter. The catheter was put in while I was asleep under the anesthesia, so I just woke up with it in. It was extremely painful when the nurse ripped it out. (She asked if I was ready, I said yes, she pulled it out quick and we were done.) It burned for about a minute and then it felt great, no more burning at all, even when using the restroom. Sorry if that’s TMI, but that might be a concern of his, and it shouldn’t really be.

Other than that: the pain really isn’t bad, I heard it will get worse soon once they take out my epidural. I trust that your brother will be tough and will do excellent if he decides to go through with surgery. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need any other advice or if he has any other specific questions!! Wish him good luck for me, and keep on being a great sibling 👍

Hey, what's your fav ice cream flavour?

Great question, I’ll probably have to go with chocolate. I like a lot of flavors but you can’t go wrong with the classic 😉 Thank you for your question, I think the hospital has ice cream so I’ll be thinking of you when I eat it!!! 👍

Hey Ethan! Thanks for the topless pic? Haha anyway on a scale of one to ten, how much pain/discomfort are you in?

I’d say around a 4, mostly just tightness in the chest and trouble taking a deep breath. Thank you for asking!!! I got up from the bed and sat in the chair for the first time and that was tough, the amount of pain surprised me but it was tolerable. Thanks for the question!! 👍