How was your pain after a lobectomy?

@mcl2025, It sounds like you are hopefully through the worst of this and have a positive outlook for the future. Here's to a steady and productive recovery and looking forward to easier days ahead! 🙂

Hi Elys
I am 13 days post surgery for upper right lobectomy via robot VATS. I had the same concerns. My surgeon had me up and walking same day as the surgery and they kept me on top of the pain. Walking was key, Anschutz medical was big on thus! At max pain was a 4 for me. The chest tube was the most uncomfortable part and I needed to stay in the hospital for 6 days due to an air pocket that they were afraid would collapse my lung while it filled in the space where my upper lobe was. So I did a lot of walking around the recovery area!! I think I only had oxy for one night, then tramadol for 2days. I did have the nerve blocker and they highly suggested that. I gladly accepted it. I’m back home, in Boulder CO area with altitude no oxygen and walking about 3mikes each day. Slow but steady. I’m on top of my meds, every 6hours and I don’t skip. Even in the middle of the night I set an alarm. They gave me nerve pills, muscle relaxers, a heart pill ( I have a good heart but something about how that surgery can send it into a fib). I take tylonal, not ibuprofen. I am super sore, tired, but overall doing really good. I’ll be praying for you. I had lots of prayers and that helped!!

Thanks for your reply @maryckolben and your good wishes.
I like hearing that your max pain was a 4!
I'm curious as to what medication(s) you're waking yourself up to take? I do know how important it is to keep ahead of the pain though.
Medical staff have assured me that things have changed a lot in 35 years and that recognizing the importance of getting patients moving has gone hand in hand with making sure their pain levels don't get in the way of that.

Hi,
Yes my surgeon ran a study at anshutz and showed a significant positive trend with walking right after surgery and throughout the hospital stay. The nursing staff was on board and I took several long walks each day. It wasn’t pleasant with the chest tube but felt good to get up and around.

Here is what they have me on. I know others need something stronger for pain (and I’m all about taking what I needed) but by day 3, I only needed Tylenol. (Oh and lidocaine patches were awesome too)! They used those on me.

DilTIAZem - for heart
Blue - 1 per day - Take each morning

Tylonal for pain- two 500mg, 4 times per day ( I now alternate with one aleve ). I don’t double up.

Methocarbamol - muscle relaxer one pill 4 times per day - pink

Pregabalin - for nerve pain. Must wean off it! Tiny red and white 2 per day (after 2 or 3 weeks, I’ll wean to 1 per day for 5 days). Sending you healing and peaceful thoughts and prayers.
Take care, you got this!!

Curious, did they offer the nerve block? They do it at the end of surgery. Everyone highly recommended it to me. I’m not sure what it would have been like had I not had it.

I had RML lobectomy via robot in 10/2023. It went very well and was only in hospital 2 nights. I would say, for me, the first few days were controlled well in hospital, def better once drain came out. But the first 2 weeks it just seemed like a lot of extreme discomfort, which was helped my walking. At home, I alternated Tylenol and Advil every 6 hrs, but at 5 1/2 hrs I took it to keep it steady. Getting comfortable in bed was the hardest. But after a few days I realized it was definitely getting better than before, so that kept my sanity. It was manageable. I didn’t like not being able to wear a bra for a month or so 🙄, but all in all, it wasn’t horrible. Every week was better. I was just so glad to have it done. I was surprised that it didn’t seem to affect my breathing, either. Best wishes to you! Let us know how things go

Hi,

I had an upper left lobectomy in March, performed by an accredited thoracic surgeon. I’m 63 years old and have generally been in good health throughout my life. I was referred to the surgeon because the nodules were too close to my heart for a biopsy without undergoing surgery.

The lobectomy was discussed, but I was informed that it might not be necessary if the nodules could be biopsied and removed. I expected to have the surgery and stay in the hospital for a couple of days.

However, I woke up to intense pain that I can only compare to being tortured. I had to be kept sedated for the first three days because I couldn't control my screaming and felt the urge to pull out the chest tubes. I spent six days in the Spine/Lung/Heart ICU and two additional days in a regular hospital room while they monitored my pain level, which remained at 8 when I was discharged.

As of May 2, my pain level has decreased to a 5. One thing I wasn't adequately informed about—though I was vaguely aware—was that the surgery involved stretching my ribs, and I had actually fractured them while in extreme pain in the ICU. I didn't learn this until I went to the ER due to difficulty breathing. The doctor showed me the fractured ribs and asked how long I had been in pain. I told him I had been in pain since the surgery. When I informed my surgeon, he simply advised me to take an Advil and claimed I would be fine.

My oncologist prescribed me Norco 7.5-325 three times a day, gabapentin 300mg twice daily, and a muscle relaxer of 100mg twice daily. My primary care doctor was also curious as to why I wasn’t better informed about my condition.

I work in law enforcement and have had knee replacements and a bladder sling procedure, which felt excruciating, so I typically handle pain well. However, this experience has been entirely different, and I am still struggling with it. It is especially difficult because I am facing this alone. The surgeon deemed it unnecessary for me to have help, and since I live alone, my dog, a husky, has been staying with a friend because I am currently unable to care for her.

In terms of mobility, I was walking unassisted within a week after each knee replacement, but now I am walking like a frail 100-year-old.

I urge others to educate themselves and not just rely on the credentials displayed on doctors' walls. Insist on clear details about procedures and any potential changes that may occur during surgery. As I told my surgeon, "You are a great surgeon but poor at communicating the 'what-ifs' to your patients."

Hi @yts5361

Your experience with pain is what I'm afraid of, actually worse than my fears because in my worst-case-imaginings the really bad pain doesn't go on for more than a day, two days tops. I'm sorry you had to experience this nightmare and I really hope I don't have to deal anything like that.

Did you have the VATS surgery with the three small incisions or did they do a long incision on your back? My understanding is that if they can do the VATS, they don't have to move your ribs. My mother had a thoracotomy over 30 years ago and it did involve her ribs and I do remember a long and painful recovery for her. (She did live another 20 years though!)

Hi,
Because of where the nodules were, he had explained it would be a small incision to reach and biopsy them.
If cancer was found, he would make a larger incision and spread two ribs.
As he explained it, it was like getting punched in the ribs but that in one to two days, I would be fine.
The incision was 20cm plus the ports for the chest tubes. But was told I would have one and it would only be left in for 48 hrs once the drainage stopped.
When I was discharged, his associate surgeon said I would still have some drainage but it would subside, it did three days later, hence I was sent home on oxygen and still require it when I walk more than 10 mins. I’m used to running and or walking 3-5 miles a day so o be this incapacitated is again something I never thought about.
I’ve read different experiences, this is mine. So far I have seen 6 doctors because of the after effects of the surgery.
Each ask the same question: why was I not told I had fractured 4 ribs two that were spread and one above and below the two causing pain that I wouldn’t even wish on my ex husband.
Please research and if the surgeon is vague about pain, aftercare etc explain, your not a surgeon who has done this many times, your a person who is putting your trust in their hands for the best outcome.

Take care

Elise
I have been thinking about you. Hope if you had surgery, you’re doing ok.
Xo