Quote:
Originally Posted by Iforgotmypassword
I could understand where the doctors would be concerned about removing the first one. Imagine your baby finger in a cotton ball. Now take out the baby finger and put in your thumb. Once you remove your thumb, there is nothing there to replace it. The Doctors maybe concerned about infection. I'm 6 years older then you and 5 inches shorter. I was told they put enough tubing into a coil in my stomach that I would be able to grow and not have issues. With yours it's a different story.
When it comes to people telling you to quit something that you love, I wouldn't do it. I grew up with a parent who was concerned about everything I did. Yes, I am still concerned now but there are precautions one takes, wearing a helmet for example. Having a shunt isn't a death wish, we just have to do be a little more careful. We aren't going to live in a bubble because of this. We have the same chance of death as the next person. I drive a car, been on ATV's, I've even done luge on a 30 year old sled down an Olympic track. I was wearing a helmet. I ride a pedal bike(with a helmet). Next year I plan on getting a motorcycle. Basically all I am saying is don't be afraid. We only live once. Would you rather be doing something that you love or sitting on your *** because others said "you can't do it because you'll die." Well, everyone dies, at least you get to die doing something you love.
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Agree with everything here. That being said, the old shunt genuinely is starting to hurt, in that if I now run my finger across my chest, it grinds against my bones / muscles / whatever as my finger passes over it and is quite sore. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be constantly "aware" of the shunt sitting inside your body, so I'm just worried that if they can't extend it or move it around so that it's not so tight, I'll be faced with either letting my muscles shrink back down or else living with a lot of discomfort for the rest of my days :/ Not exactly a happy choice, especially since I never noticed or felt it inside me up until a few years ago when I started growing.
It's only at one particular area, just below the collar bone. There, the shunt visibly protrudes, pushing the skin out so that the outline of the shunt is very visible. It's this spot that gets very uncomfortable in various situations - carrying something and having to balance it against my chest, someone / a pet leaning their head against my chest, lying on one side of on my stomach, etc - the slightest bit of pressure against it brings on this ridiculously uncomfortable "grinding" feeling under the skin. With the new, narrower shunt on my right hand side, it's a completely different story - you can barely see it and you certainly can't feel where it is, either internally or by running a finger over the chest. Either it fits better or is embedded deeper inside - either way, if there was any way to make the old one feel like that by moving it or replacing a section of the tubing or anything like that, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Would happily go through the surgery and having to give up pretty much everything for the three months during recovery if it means no more discomfort.
Has anyone here experienced anything like I'm describing, and if so was there a solution? As I say, I took up bodybuilding when I was 18 and I got very serious about it only in the last 2-3 years - up until maybe one or two years ago I never had any issues like this so I feel there's definitely a correlation between my pecs getting bigger and the old shunt feeling more and more prominent.