After my first VAT, I caught Covid so that slowed things down but I was driving my car a week later, and was off pain meds 4 days after leaving the hospital. It felt like a tight belt around my chest, but that went away after four months. My second VAT was harder because of a fractured rib. But that too passed. Almost a year later I just have a little weird tingling when I touch that side, nothing to get excited about.
Regarding breathing, one must cough in the beginning to get rid of junk in the lungs and to walk and walk and keep walking! I had shortness of breath before any surgery. My O2 levels fall with exertion. It is now worse but I have other things going on in my lungs (pulmonary fibrosis) and the SBRT last August caused a pneumonitis and may still be giving me some problems. So the cause has to be determined.