EthanM_18

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 👍

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!!

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!!!

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

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 😂