That’s wonderful me too

I had thoracotomy on my right lung in 2000. It's been 24 years and i still have pain. The surgeons say it will go away in a year or so...don't believe them. I've learned to live with the pain. There is nothing I can do about it. I just wish they would be honest with us up front and tell us there will be pain for the rest of our lives.

I had a lower right wedge resection in June 2023. It was on the anterior section. Only removed 2% of my long as there was no cancer, but I am still having pain, especially when I get sick. All 6 incisions have all healed but the outside will still come will become really warm and my insides feel like there’s a water balloon in there. To make what matters worse I’ve just started having some really frequent heart complications and I’m actually going to see an electrophysiologist cardiologist today because it it’s such a high burden. I’m not sure if this is related to the lung survey, but I’ve never had these in my life before. I just wish the surgeons have been completely transparent about all of the post long-term complications. I don’t think it heals quickly at all—and I feel like there are some other serious complications that should be presented to you prior to surgery. It is comforting to know that I’m not the only one though.

I'm so grateful to see this discussion and know I'm not alone. I've had two surgeries (robotic) to remove the upper right lobe and the middle lobe (NSCLC, stage 2). After the second surgery I had the pain I was familiar with--the feeling of burning, tightness, numbness, etc. but it did go away after a few weeks. Then, about four months post-surgery, it came back worse. This time it was stabbing pain. I had an X-ray to rule out a rib fracture and I've had my 6-month surveillance scans and the doctors don't see anything wrong. I tried lidocaine patches, Voltaren, gabapentin, etc. but they didn't help much. The pain went away entirely after a couple of months. Then it came back. It again went away after a few weeks but now it's back again. The one thing that has helped me, though it sounds silly, is to wear my bathing suit or a camisole that is "shapewear", ie., it compresses the area. That is the only thing that leaves me pain-free. Given the circumstances, it seems to me that when I lift heavyish things, it comes back and when I just walk and do my PT exercises for balance, etc.. the pain eventually goes away (until the next bout of clearing out the garage, etc.). I can't get much information from the docs and I'm frustrated that I can't figure this out. Sorry for the long post. My main concern is should I just avoid lifting things for a long time until it heals completely? Will it ever heal completely? Thx for listening.

I’m so sorry for your pain. I’ve been in pain for a few months. I’m seeing a pain management doctor on Thursday. I know people that had the same surgeries that we had and they’ve been in pain for 10 years. I don’t think the pain will ever go away. I’m so sorry. I hope I’m wrong.

Paul, you did the right thing. I rushed back and now I’m in a lot of pain seeing a pain management doctor tomorrow. I hope you can help me. I’m so happy to hear you’re doing well

I I saw my pain management doctor the other day. So he wanted to give me a Cortizone shot, but I couldn’t take it because I had to Have a pet scan, but I see my pain management doctor on May 2 and I’ll get the shot then he told me to wear the lidocaine patches for seven days. Gabapentin did nothing for me. I’m hoping that the Cortizone shot does the trick.

I hope we get better real soon. Just to be pain free would be great. We have to hang in.

I had open bilobectomy in 2020 still have tenderness/numbness. I work out and wear sports bra, doing abs tend to affect it more, the 12 inch scar is tender and I have burning sensation inside chest that webs out to arms it's very unpleasant feeling. My oncologist said it is the nerves healing theybheal at a slow pace so if we can have pain until we die the answer is yes, my thoracic surgeon also told me this. I just work through it. It's part of my life now and greatful I am a alive.

Hello, I saw a pain management doctor last week. He wants to give me a Cortizone shot on my side. He said it will help a lot. He couldn’t do it that day that I saw him because the next day I was scheduled for a pet scan I see him and I hope this works, I’m not taking gabapentin or any other painkiller. I’m using the lidocaine patches they seem to help a little bit. I wear them at night when I’m sleeping. I wish you lots of good luck when you go back to work. I hope this pain goes away for us. It’s really shame we have to go through this. God bless you