The Way I'm Wired

I was transplanted 7 years ago and everything has gone great for the most part. Until about 4 years ago, I began to have problems with my external wires.

Weight fluctuation causing wire pain

I was on steroids which was a great weight gain for me. That lasted a year. Coming off the steroids I lost the weight which caused the fat I had there not to protect my skin. I mentioned it to my doctor. He informed me that if I keep having problems to let him know and he will take care of it.

Surprisingly, I gained a little bit of weight back. I say surprisingly because I am more on the slim side naturally. The problem was not so much a problem anymore until about a year ago. The wires began to protrude through my skin causing me so much pain. A pain I tried to bear as long as I could until I just could not anymore.

How this impacted my daily living

It was taking happy days away from me. It also affected the way I took care of my daughter.

I began to fall into a slight depression and knew at that moment I could not live that way. I was living and bearing that pain every day. I went on vacation in July, and was having a great time with my daughter. This particular time, we were walking to the car to head to the beach and that pain grabbed me.

It felt like the wires were pinching my skin from the inside, and believe it or not, it was very painful. It was at that moment I knew something had to happen and those wires had to be removed. I immediately picked my phone up and called my doctor and talked to my nurse. I scheduled an appointment for when I came back to town.

I still had 2 more days left on vacation and for me it was cut short. My daughter and her dad had to do things without me because the pain was not letting up. I got my transplant to live again, and at that moment I realized that my wires were stopping that. This was something I did not want because I came so far, and I did not think that I would have a wire problem.

Getting the care I need: The next steps in my heart failure journey

Fast forward, I am at my doctor's appointment and they put my x-ray on the screen for me to see the wires. It was something very interesting to see. The best way I can describe it is like when you twist the wires around the bread after you open it and lay it flat. I have that going from the top of my chest all the way down to the top of my stomach.

The top wires were the painful ones. After seeing that, and feeling and seeing the wires protrude out of my skin, my doctor decided it is time to talk to the surgeon and schedule another appointment to talk wire removal.

At that moment it became bittersweet - bitter because that means I would have to get my chest cut back open, and sweet because the pain would be gone.

Do you have a heart failure story? Have you ever experienced pain from external wires, similar to this Health Leader? Click the button below to share with our community!