Anyone with Long COVID have trouble with bone healing?

Anyone with Long COVID have trouble with bone healing? Husband’s bone has healed in over 2-1/2 years due to Long COVID’s central sensitization system’s “fight or flight” response.

BACKGROUND STORY (or skip ahead to last paragraph)
My husband was initially infected with COVID in March 2020. He spent the next 9-mo in bed 18-hours a day. We “followed the symptoms” which led us to see a cardiologist. My husband ended up having a quadruple bypass/graft (CABG) at the age of 52 in February 2021. His sternum, however, never healed back together. He followed doctors orders, yet months after surgery, he was in continuous pain. Nine months after surgery, he had a CT scan that showed, an unstable, non-union of his sternum with at least 3 broken wires. His sternum was separated by almost a centimeter! One side was also projected out further than the other. He was a mess. He was told not to drive, not to hold anything heavier than a gallon of milk. With the instability of his sternum and the fact that scar tissue was adhered to his LIMA graft, doctors were afraid it could be catastrophic if he were to fall, for example. He needed to have his chest reopened and repaired. We found a cardiothoracic surgeon who had years of successful experience with titanium plates for “younger” open heart surgery patients, so just about a year after his initial surgery, he had a sternotomy. The surgeon removed the broken wires, scar tissue, debrided the edges of his bone and used 4 titanium plates and wires to put him back together. We were told his bone would be completely healed in 12-weeks.

Fast forward 16-weeks later, after pain and problems, a CT scan revealed, the sternum hadn’t even started to mend! There was no bone growth. Fast forward almost 1-1/2 years from the second surgery, there still has been no bone growth. His surgeon was dumbfounded. We went to see Cardiologists, Endocrinologists, Infectious Disease doctors, other specialists in the medical field, even naturalists, etc. Nobody has a clue why his bone wouldn’t heal. We asked everyone if they thought it was COVID related, and they all said a resounding, “no”. They said there was no precedent, no evidence, no whatever…. During that time, we were able to have one of the doctor’s provide a referral for in-network benefits to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The request was approved for 6-visits, so we applied to have my husband seen at the Mayo’s Long Covid clinic.

After all this time with no answers from a variety of highly-educated, well-meaning doctors and specialists, it was during an initial virtual consult with the Mayo long COVID clinic that we were told that LONG COVID WAS THE REASON MY HUSBAND’S STERNUM WOULDN’T HEAL! His central sensitization system was turned on when he had COVID, and for some reason, it has not turned off. So essentially, he was in a perpetual FIGHT OR FLIGHT struggle, which contributes to a lot of the fatigue and other issues people have with LC, but it also says to my husband’s body, “hey buddy, you are in danger right now, so your bone is going to have to wait to heal until you’re safe…”. And since that fight or flight switch hasn’t turned off on it’s own, he continues to suffer not only the other debilitating symptoms of Long COVID, but also the pain, clicking, popping, and restrictions associated with a non-healing sternum. His life pretty much sucks, and as a result, so does the rest of our family. If anyone else has had issues with bone healing, we’d like to know. We are trying to get support from our insurance company to pay for him to continue working with the Mayo LC clinic, but they have denied multiple requests. Fighting with the insurance company can be overwhelming to an already grueling, lonely journey of living with Long COVID.

Thank you.