For those of you keeping up with my ribs – I wanted to post a quick update.
I am 11 1/2 weeks post-op from surgery with Dr. H in WV. I am also one year post-op from my last failed VA surgery. I will say, healing isn’t going as great as I’d hoped it would – I am still having issues with my ribs and pain. The last few weeks have been hard.
Immediately after surgery and for weeks after, I have felt great and my ribs have been healing. But sound week 9 and 10, I have had some of the same rib pains and pulling feeling that I was having before. Week 9, I had a sneezing fit and I felt my ribs hurt. Like, really hurt. It sent nerve pains through my abdomen that reminded me of post-op pain. I immediately grabbed my side and said “that’s not good” and now I’m terrified that I’ve somehow hurt my healing ribs. I feel like I’m regressing and I’m in tears thinking that this pain is forever.
Moving my body is starting to feel like before, I have to lay down to not feel rib pain, and, when I sit in a chair I swear I can feel my ribs slipping under. I feel tightness and pulling again and today I swear I could feel bone-on-bone grinding.
I know if it continues, I’ll have to fill Dr. H in on what’s going on before my 6-month follow-up. I keep fighting myself to even write about it because it is so disheartening. I keep saying maybe I’ll be pain-free by 12 weeks or 16 weeks but each week is getting harder. I don’t want to be right about my ribs but I seem to know when something feels wrong.
Y’all, these slipping ribs are NO joke.
Until next time, for me, It Could Be Worse.
Previous Posts on Slipping Rib Syndrome from It Could Be Worse:
Slipping Rib Syndrome – Hansen Technique & One Month Follow-Up
3 Years & Five Surgeries – Slipping Rib Syndrome
3 Months Post-Op Slipping Rib Syndrome
Any Way You Slice it – Thoracic & Hand Surgery, Again
Rib Plating Surgery and Thoracic Appointments
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I have been following your blog now for almost a year. I don’t have social media but have advocated for myself and my slipped rib for the longest time within Kaiser (my current insurance, CA based). Unfortunately I have been stuck with this slipped rib since April 2020. They have treated me like a drug addict, made me feel like I am going crazy, told me nothing is wrong with me and the thoracic surgeon I finally got a appointment with said they weren’t interested in helping me or looking into the “Hansen technique” because the standard procedure is taking the rib out. He even added that I should just be lucky I don’t have cancer and live with it and my current injections………It’s been a horror show. Does compassion exist really. Your blog has kept me going and sometimes I hop on my moms Facebook to see some of the posts on the page. I have read all your blogs pertaining to slipping rib and when I think I have had it bad and after reading your continued journey, your right it could be worse for me and that’s a great motto. I feel your pain! Thanks for being open and posting your story.
My insurance change takes place August 1st and I am hoping to start a new journey of hope in contacting the doctor in CA that is trained to do this surgery and if that fails taking a flight. Knowing fully it may not work but I feel I need to try before taking the rib out. I truly hope that one day both our rib pain can be solved. Thanks again!
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It is exactly people like you that I hope to reach with my blog and I am so grateful for you reading and following along. I am SO SO SO SORRY that you have been treated so unfairly and wrong. I hate that some doctors aren’t interested in learning new techniques or listening to their patients. It is beyond me that they wouldn’t want to learn this technique that is helping people worldwide. I am happy that your insurance change is soon and I hope you can find some relief. There is a group on Facebook for SRS that has a map of all doctors who have learned the Hansen technique if you get a chance to get back on Facebook. They post videos and publications of Dr Hansen too, to help patients like us advocate to our doctors. Thank you for reaching out to me! I hope you can get the right doctor and get your ribs back where they belong! If I can ever help, let me know! 😊
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Thanks girl! I’m rooting for you to! My fingers are crossed for August. As much as my hubby tries to understand he won’t as much as people struggling just like me. I’m 29 mom of two boys and just want life back!
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