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Post surgery


LINan

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Had my surgery on Tuesday, the 13th. It was a segment surgery of the upper left lobe. Surgery went well; surgeon was pleased. He was able to leave quite a bit of the lobe intact. And I was very surprised that the after pain and discomfort was minimal compared to what I had imagined!

I'm a "champ" on the spirometer, at least in my eyes. (LOL) Able to fairly consistently achieve 1750, hitting 2000 sometimes. Not sure what is considered "good" other than trying to beat your high score. I certainly can see the importance of constant use in the upcoming days.

I had a hard time on my first walk-about, with extreme pain in my lower back. Nurses assured me that it was from the drain pressing on nerves. Once the drain was removed I was able to walk practically pain-free.

I was dreading the removal of the drain, as I read a few posts on here about how painful i was. Maybe the degree of pain varies with location and extent of surgery? But I experienced absolutely NO pain on removal. Hopefully this might help calm some others waiting on surgery.

Again, thanks all for the encouraging posts in your replies to my intro. Hopefully this post will reduce another's apprehension and fear about pending surgery!

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LINan,

Welcome here.

Indeed, I had no pain after removing 4 chest-tube drains. I had one fall out while showering at home, and I had to go to the emergency room for my surgeon to re-install it. After a lot of fussing about, he decided he'd need to open a new drain hole and as he told me about this, he closed the circular suture on my back and I didn't feel a thing!

Great work on the spirometer! Keep that up and lap the ward with gusto and you'll accelerate your recovery.

Stay the course.

Tom

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LINan,

I'm glad to hear that your surgery went so well! Yay! I had a lobectomy and mine was easy also. I went home with the drain tube in and had it for about 10 days, but no pain at all on removal. I think reports such as yours (and mine) really are an encouragement to people who are worried about surgery. Thanks for posting. Keep us posted on your recovery.

Bridget O

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LINan,

Keep up the good work!  It sounds like you are doing well and as long as you mix reasonable activity with proper rest and nutrition you will see your healing move ahead quickly.

Lou

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