| Your body in water is really a teeter-totter with it's fulcrum somewhere between your waist and your sternum. |
| A roll is placed under the patient's shoulders to elevate and level his or her sternum. |
| The wires holding the sternum together are permanent, but the stitches closing the wound will gradually dissolve. |
| Surgical closure of the sternum is often accomplished with stainless steel wires, but other techniques are being investigated. |
| The sternum is then divided allowing the ribs to rotate to the side a few centimeters. |
| Bleeding was noted when the patient was returned to the operating room for repair of the sternum. |
