Pectus Excavatum Experience in my life

“If you wish to live to see better days, then you must endure the bad days.” -Abdul Kalam

On completing a successful decade of pectus surgery by Dr. Darlong, I would like to congratulate the doctor and share my pectus experience in my life.

Before the Surgery –
I am Avinash from Hyderabad and I suffered from pectus excavatum (hollow chest). I have noticed this during my 8th Standard and from then on, I have consulted various doctors in and around Hyderabad but couldn’t find the one to fix it.

I have psychologically undergone lots of stress and whenever I look at my hollow chest, I used to feel depressed. I hardly interacted with my friends and avoided trips with them. Whenever I am required to remove my shirt, I used to have an awkward feeling, to the extent that I have never gone swimming even once in my life. My parents spent sleepless nights thinking about my condition.

During the Surgery –
I came to about Dr. Darlong through pectusindia.com and when I consulted him he has given me the hope for a bright future ahead. Though the surgery is complicated he made it look too simple. I have undergone my surgery in August 2020 when I was 21 years and it was a four-day stay in the hospital in Delhi after which I was discharged and traveled back to my hometown by flight. It was those initial 15 days that were tough during which the doctor treated me like his friend and made me recover soon. In this regard, I would also like to thank nurses and supporting staff for their caring nature in the hospital.

After the Surgery –
It has been almost a year since I had this surgery by the time I am writing this article. Most of them say this surgery is just a cosmetic surgery but it is just beyond it. Before this surgery, when I played cricket, I used to quickly exhaust but after this surgery, I could clearly notice better lung functioning. Apart from this, the surgery also helped me gain weight quickly and now I had a better posture than before.