happydaydiane Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 any success stories with collapsed lungs. my husband's lower left lobe has not expanded. he had a large amount of fluid removed during his 3 week stay in the hospital. he had 10 radiation treatments to his airway to try to shrink a tumor which is blocking the air from getting to his lung which is preventing it from expanding. the radiation treatment was suppose to be 75% successful and 2 weeks after his last treatment the scan did not show it expanding; however he did mention his breathing seems "looser". the doctor told us a while back that sometimes the patients feel it before it actually shows up on the scan. anyway, any good stories out there about collapsed lungs finally expanding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirrell Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 there is someone on this board with good news about a collapsed lung, marlon. her mother had a collapsed lung, then after several attempts to get the doctors to be more aggressive, she went to the block cancer center, where her mother not only shows no evi9dence of disease, but her lung was re-expanded. her email is on her. email her. she is a wealth of advice. good luck to you. mirrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christymike Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 My dad had a collapsed lung and was in the hospital for 2 weeks or so an was in ICU it was also caused by the chemo and radiation. They had re-expanded the lung but it is not expanded to its full potential and he uses oxygen all the time now. They had some respiratory exersizes that really help expand it more. So even though it is scary it just takes time. God Bless you. Christy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DaveG Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 When I had my first surgery , in October 2001, I spent 11 days, post-op, in the hospital because my lung failed to expand. I had two chest tubes, one to the upper lobe and the other to the lower. Finally, after 9 days, they removed the upper chest tube. Then on the 11th day, they decided to send me home with the remaining chest tube. I returned to the surgeon at the end of October, and the lung was fully expanded. The surgeon removed the remaining chest tube. Following my second surgery, I had two chest tubes again. The upper tube was removed on the 3rd day and the lower tube was removed on the 5th day, when I was discharged from the hospital. I have had little to no residual effects from my lung being collapsed. Getting up and walking is the best thing that can be done to get the lung expanded. I know that sounds good, and is difficult when one is experiencing the post op pain of a thorocotomy, but walking and exercise is the key to a sucessful recovery. I have been there and it was difficult for me to walk, but I forced myself to do do just that. I believe walking was the key to a faster recovery after my second surgery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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