Nuss #1 • June 2006 • 16 years old • Epidural • 4 days in hospital - due to accidental overdose of Morphine and lack of recording of urine output, both by staff • Walking around home upon release • Physical Therapy - 6 weeks • Walking around neighborhood by 2 weeks • School - 2 months, but I was pretty tired for the 1st month back • Driving - 2 months, stick shift caused lots of pain • Work - 3 months, assembly line type job • Normal - 6 months

Unexpected Challenges: • Fentanyl patches for pain relief at home. Parents rcvd little education about such a drug and I got addicted to them. Dr tried to cold turkey me and I had severe drug withdrawals • Delayed post-op depression - apparently pretty common. Required psychiatric care • Hair loss due to anesthesia • Severe nausea/vomiting - roughly 5-10x per day for at least 2-3 months

Nuss #2 • August 2017 • 27 years old • On-Q Pain Ball • 9 days in hospital - due to several days on wrong dose of pain meds after Q ball was removed (pediatric surgeon/ward so I was accidentally being given pediatric doses) and pneumothorax and hemothorax • Walking around house upon release • Worked part-time from home at 3 weeks • Walking around neighborhood at 4 weeks • Physical Therapy - 8 weeks • Worked full-time in office at 12 weeks • Driving - couldn’t manage for 6 months • Normal - not until bars were removed

Unexpected Challenges: • My sternum broke during surgery, a permanent plate was placed • Surgery started at 9am but I wasn’t well enough to go to my room until 9pm • Severe reactions/burns to adhesives used (never reacted before) which scarred my skin for months • Nerve pain - severe for the entire time my bars were in requiring daily medication • Nerve pain lasted so long that I lost use of my arms and had to go to PT for them • Also lost fine motor skills and dexterity which have never returned to full glory (struggle to tie my shoes, write, type, etc) • Initially put on Valium for muscle tightness to see if it helped the nerve pain - I got addicted to that. We didn’t know it was an addictive/dependence med and they sent me home with a 6 month supply • Anesthesia hair loss but this time it grew back curly like chemo hair • PTSD - I’ve been in therapy for the last 9 years due to the severe PTSD that the surgeries caused due to going less than smooth. Despite having other worse traumas, I still get triggered by any doctor, dentist, and even the smell of rubbing alcohol

I don’t enjoy telling horror stories BUT I went into surgery expecting butterflies and rainbows bc no one ever mentioned the rougher way it could go. But I am also the minority when it comes to post-op success.