Doug's Journal

In 2008 I had open heart surgery in the sense they had to cut through my sternum to remove a thymoma. They wired up my sternum with wires just twisted outward and not bend backwards. In the last 5 months I have went to the emergancy room 4 times. I have had atrial fib 3 of the 4 times. This last time 1 week ago my sternum hurt a lot and my left arm tingled and I felt my left arm hurting from the armpit up to the wrist. I am 6.4" 210 and thin chest. My feeling is that these wires in my chest touch a nerve to my heart as I rotate my torsal. I am very competitive and a 4.0 tennis player and 3 handicap golfer. The first time I became faint was after hitting a hard four hand (3 years ago). Three months ago I hit a long drive with good rotation and ended up in the emergency room with Pluse at 166 Bpm and irregular heart rate (Afib). The next time was 2 months later at a dance when I did some swinging of the arms. Afib all over again. This last week I was using swiming gloves and doing breast strokes in the water and that evening ended up with the chest pain in my sternum and my left arm feeling tingly and hurting. I have asked my GP in the past if these wires could cause this problem and he said no! Is there a specialist out there that can tell me if it is the wires in my chest. God Bless - doug