Hello, Valerie,

As I was reading your post, Tietze's Syndrome came into my head and that your father's chest pain may not be phantom at all.

Tietze's Syndrome is presented as chest pain from damage to the chest or inflammation of the cartilage between the ribs. The pain mimics cardiac symptoms, even to the extent of traveling down the arm and up into the jaw in some people, so in almost every case, it is misinterpreted as cardiac pain or a heart attack. When nothing cardiac can be found, the patient is frequently dismissed with, "It's in your head," or "phantom pain from the surgery." In the process, the patient is scared half to death with cardiac-like pain and no answers.

It can be a one-time inflammation that resolves itself or a chronic problem without inflammation readily evident. What struck me even more in your father's case is the cardiac surgery he had, which involved cracking open the sternum and retracting the ribs. If ever there was a trauma to the chest, that one leads the list.

I'm surely not a doctor or a diagnostician, but I thought this might be something to consider in your relentless search for answers. My guess is that an orthopedic doc was not on the referral list, and that's the one I'd start with if I were in your position.

I hope you find some answers.

TCC