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.