Sternal Wires and Listening

I believe one of the most important lessons we as health care providers need to learn is that patients are people too. They feel and experience things just as we do.

I say this because I have had multiple experiences where doctors don't listen to the patient because they are the doctor and believe they know more. Yes, doctors have gone through years of schooling and can be wise, but it is not wise to ignore what the patient says.
In my case, I suffered from chest pain for several years. When you have open heart surgery, they cut directly down the sternum and then wrap wires in a twist-tie like fashion back around your chest. This acts like a permanent cast while your sternum heals. However, the wires are not usually taken back out.

For years I felt these wires stabbing me and causing extreme discomfort. Until finally, I had an extreme pain that landed me in the ER. I had broken a sternal wire. However, my doctors did not believe that that was what was causing the pain, although I was having severe stabbing pain in the location that the wire was broken. I was patient with my doctors, and in the end they removed the broken wire, but the process took several months until they had done multiple tests and ended up with no real diagnosis. 

This year, less than a year from my previous surgery, I ended up having another issue with these wires and I again ended up in the clinic. I was so thankful that my doctors believed me and were patient with my explanation of the pain. I was rid of the wires a few weeks later and now I am completely pain free from the horrible stabbing as well as the chronic pain I had had for years!