Healing Continues

August 21, 2022

To show you the extent of my chest incision after three recent surgeries and its subsequent healing, here is a composite photo I made to compare.

While my chest is still sore, swollen, and numb, and will take many more months to heal, my scarring isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I returned home on July 21, 2022, after a total of seventy (70) days in a hospital and at a physical-rehabilitation facility (nursing home). I continue to regain my strength by engaging in physical therapy and occupational therapy, now at home.

I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on March 9, 2022, and then two reconstructive surgeries in/on my chest in May 2022. For my surgery on May 19, 2022, my reconstructive surgeon removed metal sternal plates from within my chest due to a staph infection. For my surgery on May 25, 2022, he cleaned out the remaining infection from within my chest, and he partially closed my chest by first clipping off the tips of my ribs and then by reattaching my chest muscle flaps to my body.

My surgeon used seven spaced-out sutures to close the eight-inch-long, vertical incision in my chest initiated by my open-heart surgery in March 2022 and made worse by my two subsequent surgeries in May 2022, leaving me with eight deep holes in my chest to heal.

Thank you for your prayers, well-wishes, and support.