13 year old DS diagnosed with Pectus Excavatum.

[juliechick]

We noticed last summer that my son's chest had a depression in the center that was causing him to worry about his appearance. At the time, I thought it might go away as he got older. However, when I took him for a physical for track this year, I asked his doctor about it. She said that it was a condition called pectus excavatum. This is where the ribs turn and grow inward in the center of the chest. It will push on his heart and lungs. This can cause shortness of breath, heart murmurs and other problems, not to mention the psychological effects of it. It has gotten worse and all the info I can find says that it will likely continue to get worse without surgery.

Does anyone else have this condition? Have you or someone you know had the surgery? I'd like to hear from someone who has first hand experience.

I'm feeling very guilty right now for not taking him to the doctor last year. I thought his lack of energy and motivation were because he was going through puberty. I just didn't realize how serious it was. I am glad to know, though, that the surgery is minimally invasive and that it should make a vast improvement in how he feels and how much physical activity he can do. And, he won't have to be embarrassed to be seen without his shirt.

Please pray for him and us. Thank you!

 

[Alabama ee]

My son has a mild case. Now that he is older, it makes him look more muscled. It really depends on how severe it is whether or not it needs medical attention.

 

[GiddyMoon]

My son had surgery for it at Shriners over 2 years ago. Do you want to see pictures?

 

[juliechick]

Quote:
Yes I do. Are you glad he had the surgery?

 

[awesomefowl]

 

[GiddyMoon]

Very. I saw something in his chest since he was an infant. But even our pediatrician was not sure..then bam, when he went thru a growing spurt at 13, there was this huge cavity. At the same time we were planning a 2 year out of state move and their dad tried to take us to court to stop us, lying about us, etc..and that was 8 mnths..the surgery was the easiest thing we had on us at the time. Shriner's in Sacramento was amazing. However;.....it is NOT "non invasive"

They thread a bar thru his chest cavity to pop up the caving ribs. He has a high pain threshold and I think this helped..they could not believe how fast he wanted to get out of bed...we stayed like 5 days but at the time we also lived in Sac - where the Shriner's that specializes in this is....God is amazing like that. Now that we are in Tucson we have to go back for checkups..

His chest looks great and he hardly feels it. He was also tested for Marfan Syndrome and is borderline and he also has scoliosis..let me dig up pics..if you have any other questions, just ask.

Be back soon.

 

[GiddyMoon]

Before

Right after....

Day 5

Xray

He was about 5' 4" then, he is now 5 8" and about 30 lb heavier. He only has two small scars on either side of his ribs. I haven't a current pic from my phone I am waiting to upload to facebook..when it is up I will move it over here.

 

[GiddyMoon]

Here is his chest today. We are slowly working at upper body strength. AS you mentioned, this does play a part in their ability to handle PE< etc...he can now do like 4 pushups. LOL

 

[mrsengeseth]

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[juliechick]

Quote:
What a handsome guy! He looks pretty happy on Day 5.

We haven't been to the specialist yet. We decided to explore our options today. I sure hope we can find a good doctor near here.