Eric's medical condition: Pectus Excavatum

As we all know Eric had the medical condition Pectus Excavatum. A quick check on Wikipedia mentioned this condition can either be present at birth or develop during puberty, upon reading Eric's medical records P.E is described as a birth defect so it would seem he was born with this condition. Someone on SBB posted a link to this blog: http://mysweetpectus.wordpress.com/ It details a guys journey through P.E surgery, the links underneath the main header focus on the guys surgery and recovery process. There's a huge amount of information on this blog. If whoever posted this link originally is on here thank you in advance.

Erics medical files indicate he underwent the following procedures:

11/15/93: Evaluation for surgery for P.E.
12/03/93: Evaluation for surgery for P.E.
12/16/93: Surgical correction of Pectus Excavatum.
01/07/94: Evaluation of post op P.E.
04/29/94: Evaluation of post op P.E.
06/09/94: Removal of steel strut surgery P.E.
06/17/94: Review of removal of steel strut post op P.E.

pg(10094 -10096) 

Brooks Brown describes Erics chest deformity as not that noticeable and only sunken in a bit in NEA. 
I was going to post this in the Misc section as I wasn't sure if it was considered as 'related to the shooting,' however if we believe Brooks Browns statement in NEA, that when Eric took his shirt off in P.E class the bullies would mock him. It somewhat supports the side of the debate that bullying was a contributing factor that caused Columbine.

Anything related to Columbine, Dylan, Eric, the victims, etc. Please post in the 'shooting' section. 'Miscellaneous' is for everything else not Columbine related.

Jenn wrote:

Anything related to Columbine, Dylan, Eric, the victims, etc. Please post in the 'shooting' section. 'Miscellaneous' is for everything else not Columbine related.

Thank you, I thought this was more than likely the case.

16 months after bar removal looks pretty good:

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Eric had the surgery when he was 12/13 ... so if he healed like the guy above I'm sure it wouldn't be that noticeable.

sororityalpha wrote:

16 months after bar removal looks pretty good:

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Eric had the surgery when he was 12/13 ... so if he healed like the guy above I'm sure it wouldn't be that noticeable.

It really is on a case by case basis like every other medical procedure. We know Eric was reluctant to take his shirt off in gym because of his indent. Im not sure whether the reluctance was due to past bullying or simply him just trying to avoid any future incidents. From the way I've heard it described it was most definitely noticeable to some degree.

Maybe he was concerned with the scar that was left on his chest from the surgery ...

Where did you hear that is definitely noticeable to some degree ?

sororityalpha wrote:

Maybe he was concerned with the scar that was left on his chest from the surgery ...

Where did you hear that is definitely noticeable to some degree ?

Brooks Brown said that although he had surgery it was still noticeable enough that he was picked on in gym because of it. Like you said there would most likely be some scarring too, and even that may have been enough to make Eric hide his chest.

Nirvana92 wrote:

Brooks Brown said that although he had surgery it was still noticeable enough that he was picked on in gym because of it.

I could not locate that info from Brooks book. Can you tell me where you saw/heard this please?

Page 48 of No Easy Answers

Thank you

Eric appeared shirtless in the basement tapes.

sororityalpha wrote:

Eric also appeared shirtless when playing a mummy for class.

And, in the basement tapes.

Having his shirt off in front of his whole class was a pretty bold move if he really was that embarrassed. It may have just been a gym class thing though. Combine that with his height and smaller build and he probably got a lot of shit from the jocks.

Do you think this issue that he had caused him to be insecure by default and he worried perhaps forever? It made him feel abnormal and ashamed maybe and no female would react kindly or accepting if they saw him bare. Poor guy, if he couldn't somehow appreciate his condition and worked through life with it and it constantly made him feel different it would explain his self-loathe which then resulted in lashing out at others.

Oddly enough I have this same condition and it is literally compressing my heart into my spine. The strange thing? You can't tell from looking, although the difference here is I have boobs

Tomb wrote:

Oddly enough I have this same condition and it is literally compressing my heart into my spine. The strange thing? You can't tell from looking, although the difference here is I have boobs

LOL

I don't know how visible the indent was, but he probably was picked on for it.

Lizpuff wrote:

Tomb wrote:

Oddly enough I have this same condition and it is literally compressing my heart into my spine. The strange thing? You can't tell from looking, although the difference here is I have boobs

LOL  

I don't know how visible the indent was, but he probably was picked on for it.

Sadly, I'm sure he was. The defect is much more prominent on a male in most cases. From what I've been told it's a painful surgery to correct, so I haven't given much thought to looking into it. Right now I have enough medical problems.

Tomb wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

Tomb wrote:

Oddly enough I have this same condition and it is literally compressing my heart into my spine. The strange thing? You can't tell from looking, although the difference here is I have boobs

LOL  

I don't know how visible the indent was, but he probably was picked on for it.

Sadly, I'm sure he was. The defect is much more prominent on a male in most cases. From what I've been told it's a painful surgery to correct, so I haven't given much thought to looking into it. Right now I have enough medical problems.

Is it something that is dangerous for you? Like do you need to have surgery for it? OT sorry...

My last CT scan revealed the compression of my heart between my sternum and spine and also showed my heart to be enlarged. Mr dr offered to refer me to a cardio thoracic surgeon and I declined for now. I have a long list of chronic medical conditions, courtesy of really bad genes. Thanks mom and dad lol!

Tomb wrote:

My last CT scan revealed the compression of my heart between my sternum and spine and also showed my heart to be enlarged. Mr dr offered to refer me to a cardio thoracic surgeon and I declined for now. I have a long list of chronic medical conditions, courtesy of really bad genes. Thanks mom and dad lol!

Wow. I hope everything turns out well for you!

It sounds at least like both Eric and Dylan had great medical. At least they didnt have to worry about that in their lives. It sounds like Eric's PE could have been a lot worse had he not gotten it corrected.

It would be pretty dope if Eric rocked the PE he had and made everyone thought it was cool so he wouldn't feel so insecure about it. But yet he had flaunt it infront of the class so I can't even say he was fearful. I just wondered whether this condition played as a factor to him hating himself.

And there was also something wrong with his leg. Not sure what...but some kind of congenital thing too I believe?

Reb wouldn't have any sort of congenital issues would he. He would be strong from birth and wouldn't need any dr or surgeries....

Does he mention any of this in his journal? I can't recall.

Tomb wrote:

Does he mention any of this in his journal? I can't recall.

He def mentions hating things about himself but Iirc he never mentions PE specifically

Yeah he never mentioned the PE specifically but he did a school report or a journal entry I think and it was something about losses..?things he lost, and he brought up the surgery he did and something about his heart and things don't use to work right or something.... Gosh I can't remember or find it, I don't make sense now

I just did a post on the autopsies (specifically Rohrbough's) and Eric's pectus excavatum was described as mild. Of course this was after he had it corrected after surgery.

Lizpuff wrote:

And there was also something wrong with his leg.  Not sure what...but some kind of congenital thing too I believe?

Reb wouldn't have any sort of congenital issues would he.  He would be strong from birth and wouldn't need any dr or surgeries....

I wonder what's wrong with his leg as well.  I haven't been able to find any detailed info about this.  I suppose that whatever it was, it was the reason he walked slightly bow-legged. I wonder if his PE is the reason he looked very slightly hunch-backed when he stood.....or maybe he just had bad posture.  It wasn't severe.....just slightly noticeable in some of the videos I've seen.

Freezingmoon wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

And there was also something wrong with his leg.  Not sure what...but some kind of congenital thing too I believe?

Reb wouldn't have any sort of congenital issues would he.  He would be strong from birth and wouldn't need any dr or surgeries....

I wonder what's wrong with his leg as well.  I haven't been able to find any detailed info about this.  I suppose that whatever it was, it was the reason he walked slightly bow-legged. I wonder if his PE is the reason he looked very slightly hunch-backed when he stood.....or maybe he just had bad posture.  It wasn't severe.....just slightly noticeable in some of the videos I've seen.

Another one of the mysteries we will probably never know

Tomb wrote:

My last CT scan revealed the compression of my heart between my sternum and spine and also showed my heart to be enlarged. Mr dr offered to refer me to a cardio thoracic surgeon and I declined for now. I have a long list of chronic medical conditions, courtesy of really bad genes. Thanks mom and dad lol!

That sounds like it could be serious Tomb.Maybe you shouldn't wait to have it taken care of.

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Thanks for the concern. I go back soon for another CT of my chest and will see what's going on. Right now I'm waiting to have surgery on my left Achilles and then my right knee. Lol I'm stumbling around like I'm drunk. I don't even know how many times I've fallen now since both have started going bad.

I actually had the opposite deformity in Pectus Carinatum. It's when your sternum protrudes. As a kid I don't remember getting made fun of too bad but I was extremely self conscience. It was a huge blow to my self esteem and was probably the original cause for my anxiety. I was definitely afraid to take off my shirt and it obviously made things like participating in sports or even swimming very difficult or nearly impossible. I missed out on a lot because of fear.

I got the surgery done when I was 12 years old and to this day, it was the worst pain I've ever experience. When awoke from the anesthesia, I honestly thought I was dying. It was beyond awful for a good 3 months. Whenever I would sneeze or cough, I would be writhing in agony.

I remember I shared a hospital room with a 17 year old kid who had Pectus Excavatum surgery the same time as me. He was only in for two days, whereas I was in for a week or so. The first day he was screaming and cursing at the nurses for more pain meds, the second day he was ready to leave and go to a party. That just goes it does affect people differently.

Strangely, I may have somehow developed PE myself (if that's even possible.) I have a bit of sunken chest ever since that is really noticeable to others when I'm wearing tighter shirts. I know they say you should bench press to build it back up and I haven't really done that (actually, now that I think of it, that maybe why Eric was still embarrassed post surgery) but I'm 26 now, why hasn't it filled out yet?! When I put my hand on my chest, the palm fits perfectly in the indent. Sucks.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] my boyfriend also has the opposite deformity. His isn't really that noticeable though. Apparently when he was a kid, his parents sent him to a specialist or something and They got a bunch of xrays done but they didn't think it would effect his overall health so he never had the surgery.