Pain along sternum 2 years after open heart surgery

[Dan33ynwa]

Hi guys and gals hope I find you all well I was just wondering if any of you who have had open heart surgery still get pain or tenderness along the sternum/bones it feels almost like it's bruised, I have had recent icd surgery and not used left arm alot in past 5 weeks and have found I have been laying on right side again for past couple of nights and wondered if this had anything to do with it, any answers or replies welcome TIA

[Mart25]

Good morning. I can see you have posted a number of questions following your icd procedure. I can relate to some of what you have experienced. I had bypass surgery in October 2020 and I had a pacemaker fitted on 1st March = 4 weeks ago - so we are on nearly parallel tracks. My pacemaker wound is healing well but the area around the pacemaker itself is still sore. I've always preferred to sleep with my left side down and it was too painful to do this after pacemaker fitting. So I've been sleeping with my right side down as best I can. This has made both shoulders sore simply because they are not used to being in this position for hours overnight! I've also noticed that my sternum is aching a bit (just an ache, not pain) and I think this is also because of different sleeping positions. I'm not bothered about it because gradually things are getting more comfortable. I have my pacemaker check next week and am hoping to be able to exercise my left shoulder after that - which I am looking forward to. I hope this helps.