Hi, Sandy! I hope you are having a great day. I just "re-read" what others posted back to you and remembered about the "talking while breathing" problems I, too, had those problems big time in the beginning. I first noticed it about the 1 month "out from surgery" point. I would be talking on the phone and get really short of breath while talking. I could almost be bent over gasping for air if I talked too long or too fast. My husband said I would just talk and talk and talk until I ran out of air. In other words, I was forgetting to breathe while talking. I had to "relearn" that in a new way. It was a problem for quite a while. This feeling of breathlessness would start up if I went down our basement and then tried to come back upstairs. It could start up if I just "bent over to tie my shoe" or ran up our steep driveway after grabbing the morning paper. It still happens if I try and walk up a steep hill or walk fast while talking to my neighbor at the same time. It took me YEARS before I learned a medical name for what this was - it is called DYSPNEA. I was so relieved to read other survivors stories and learn it was common for them to experience as well. It is because our lungs have NOT FULLY INFLATED PROPERLY as well as having a lot of lung removed but the main reason is the DEEP BREATHING that most of us forget to do. In fact, if when I am the shortest of breath, I remember to dig way down and take a huge deep breath, the breathlessness gets immediately better.
When I had my surgery in 1996, there was NO internet, NO message boards, NO support groups (specifically Lung cancer) and NO other survivors that I could find same stage as I was. It took me YEARS to find all this. I used the library to read and read and read about lung cancer. When the internet became popular, it was like a whole new world opened up for me and I found this message board and others that were So So helpful.
I thought I would mention, too, that I first drove 21 days following surgery (went grocery shopping for a few things and then to pick up a Christmas ham), in case you are curious. I was told NOT to pick up anything weighing more than 8 lb (a gallon of milk) for the first month. I wore a bra at the two month mark, I think for the first time. I felt like going out to lunch for the first time about the two month mark. We did go on a 10 day vacation to FL at the 7 week point and I was actually playing easy doubles tennis that week. I remember going in my brother's beautiful pool at the 7 week mark, too. That felt wonderful. I experienced a little dizziness (can't think of the name for that) that week for the first time ever. I do recall being paranoid about catching a cold that first year. I stayed away from anybody who was sick or had been sick. I was told to get a flu shot every year and get a pneumonia shot which I did that next fall.
Guess that's all I can think of right now. Keep getting stronger. I am so happy for you that you are doing so well.
Prayers, Annie
