Cin Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Well I ended up getting a lobotomy (upper right lobe) since they found cancer. I won't get the lymph node results for a week. I have to say the first two days in hospital were painful as hell. The drugs helped so much and I was riding on a pink cloud of dilaudid by day three. My lung was leaking air so they kept me for 5.5 days, which I was fine with since I was so comfortable and live alone. I came home yesterday and slept comfortably in my recliner last night. One of my two cats took a few naps on my stomach (away from my side) and I was able to finally shower today. My best friend of 35 years lives in my condo, and she took me to CVS for medical supplies and wrapped up my wound after the sbower. I realize I absolutely cannot do that myself and had to flash my right boob at her, face level. We're friends, lol, oh well. I need to call someone about future wound care, do I re-wrap it up every day or does it need air? The only instructions I remember was that I could take a shower today .... Stitches out May 5th. Grateful to be alive and hope I don't go back to taking everything for granted. excuse my typos, I'm on a small iPad and a bit woozy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse L. Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Glad you're home as it is always more comfortable recovering at home. I'm going to give a brief synopsis of my recovery so that you can compare what you do to what I did... On 2/25 I had lobectomy to remove my RLL which consisted of three median incisions and a smaller incisision with a couple stitches. The smaller incision was the one in which the drain tube was attached and that was removed on the day before I left the hospital. My total hospital stay was 4 days but I did not have any leaking air from my lung such as you had. I'm sure they told you to come back to the hospital at once if you noted that condition occurred again after you got home. I'm sure you've noted that there is no real pain internally and that is because there are no nerves in your lungs or for that matter no nerves attached to your lymphatic system either. With no nerves there will be no pain, but I'm sure you're feeling those incisions. They do hurt and they will hurt for some time. According to what I was told as I left the hospital, it would take six to eight weeks for those incisions to heal for the most part. However, I have learned since that absolute complete healing can take months longer. The thing to understand is that the pain will diminish with time and in fact will be quite a bit less in just a few weeks. Your abilities will come back in time too; just mind what your body tells you that you can do and you will be fine. As to wound care, the medical super glue they used on your median incisions is tough stuff and will close your incisions nicely. The only thing they told me was to keep the drain tube incision dry when I took a shower as this was just being closed with a few stitches. So, prior to taking a shower I would tape a plastic covering cut from a plastic bag over that drain tube incision so water would not get into that wound. Once I was done showering I would remove the plastic and then cover it with Neosporin first, and then clean gauze with tape. Upon the sutures being removed I still did that for about five days after when taking a shower. However, I only covered that wound up with Neosporin and gauze with tape for a few days after I finished showering. I was told that the wound needed air to heal... One thing I'll add here is that removing lymph nodes during a lobectomy has become pretty standard practice and those lymph nodes will be studied to determine if they've been affected by the cancer. Regardless of the outcome, more treatment may be recommended. It is important for you to learn all you can about your situation so you can become your own best advocate. The more you know, the less fear and anxiety you will feel. So, ask questions, lots of questions, and research what you must to allay any confusion. Know that regardless of condition, there are multiple levels of treatment now for cancer and more are being approved regularly. Have faith and confidence in the future...and stay involved with the forums. We may not be medical professionals, but we have a wealth of knowledge on the human side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LexieCat Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Glad you made out OK! I would have LOVED to sleep in my recliner but my cats are less considerate and would have kept me awake. I'd suggest giving your surgeon's office a call re wound care. Seems to me I had a bandage for only a very few days, but your doc is in the best position to know how the incision best heals. BTW, if you are still taking pain meds, it isn't a bad idea to start taking some Miralax or something similar to prevent constipation. You REALLY don't wanna deal with that--trust me! Feel better soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cin Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 Thank you Jessie and Lexicat. I am waiting for a return call about wound care. I cannot reach back there to put on my own bandage and feel uncomfortable asking my friend to help me with this level of personal care every day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LexieCat Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 I know what you mean. If it turns out that you have to do much with the bandages, you can call the nurse navigator, or even your insurance company, and see if they can have a home health aide stop by every day or two to give you a hand with the dressing change. Like I said, you probably won't need to mess with them longer than a few days and after that you'll be able to leave it uncovered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judy M2 Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Like Lexie says, a home health aide/wound nurse is the way to go. I had lots of home health visits after my abdominal surgery, and they were wonderful. Best of luck with your recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cin Posted May 1, 2021 Author Share Posted May 1, 2021 I have everything uncovered except on would that is up high and has a regular bandaid on it. I hope it gets loose when I shower tonight. Have a question about lymph node results which I will post separately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.