1. < Lung Cancer

How was your pain after a lobectomy?

Posted by elyser @elyser, Apr 24 1:02pm

I'll be having a lobectomy (lower left) in early May and am very anxious about the post-surgery pain. Many years ago (about 35) I had a hysterectomy and remember being in tremendous pain when I woke up -- like nothing I had experienced before. That eased up while I was in the hospital but at home I had a lot of pain again. I think things have changed, the surgery itself as well as the approach to pain, but I am scared. How has it been for others?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Lung Cancer Support Group.

elyser | @elyser | 3 days ago

Thanks for checking in @maryckolben! My surgery is Friday.

REPLY
gprior | @gprior | 3 days ago

Do let us know how you fare with your surgery. I too have been thinking of you and wish you all the very best. You are probably getting quite anxious but as I said previously you'll be OK and by this time next week it'll be all over. Pain is managed and don't forget your cushion to hug, helps a lot when coughing etc. Wish you a speedy recovery

REPLY
pingguo | @pingguo | 2 days ago
In reply to @cmcguire10 "I had an upper left lobe Segmentectomy, not a full lobectomy, in March of 2023. I..." + (show)
@cmcguire10

I had an upper left lobe Segmentectomy, not a full lobectomy, in March of 2023. I had the VATS surgery. (Robot assisted surgery, or video assisted). Surgeries have come a long way! It will depend on what type of surgery they are doing for you.
Anyway, no real pain in the hospital, of course they are there doing everything for you and giving you your meds on schedule. They send your prescriptions to your pharmacy, for when you go home. Make sure you have it set up for someone to pick them up for you. You should plan all this out now before your surgery. I ordered prepared meals for my entire family for at least a week so as not to stress anyone about making meals. I bought a bed table to eat at, and I already had my adjustable bed. THAT was the best investment I’ve ever made! After you get home, the hard part is figuring out how to sleep and move. The bed was great because I could sleep propped up, I could adjust it up to almost sitting so I could just turn a bit and get out of bed. No pressure on trying to push myself up that way. That causes some pain. You can always use lots of pillows to do the same thing. You do NOT want to put any pressure on your side. Take the meds even if you don't think you have pain, because it WILl come. If you stay on top of it, it will be good. I only had to take mine for a week or so. I was told not to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk for about 4-6 weeks. You can really hurt everything if you don’t follow the doctors orders! The best thing to do is walk! Start just around inside your home. Then a little outside. Try to make sure someone is with you to help you back if needed. Breathing is scary at first because you don’t know what to expect, but I was so happy I could breath normally after the first week! Walk and walk and walk after you feel comfortable. Best medicine in the world for healing and breathing! I now am a personal shopper and I have to walk really fast to get the order shopped and then deliver it. A lot of orders have cases of waters (heavy!), etc. I’m telling you this because I want you to see you can get back to notmal. Just be Careful and Slow during your recovery! God Bless you and I pray that you have a full and speedy recovery!🙏🙏🙏

Jump to this post

Admire you, such a good planer!

REPLY
1 reply
yellowstonelady | @yellowstonelady | 2 days ago

I had upper right and middle right lobes removed in 2000 at age 46. I have a problem with oxy type drugs as they make me throw up. I had an epidural but after a few days it was making me hallucinate so they removed it too. So my pain was very bad. I was in hospital for about 11 days. I'd grown up on a farm and been hurt countless ways working around big animals but never ever had I experienced such pain as my bilobectomy.

Two years later I had my hysterectomy C section which was a walk through the park. Easy and the pain was 1/1000 of the bilobectomy. I was out running about campus in a few days.

Now I am 71 and there is just about no way on earth anyone could ever convince me to have another lobectomy.

REPLY
cmcguire10 | @cmcguire10 | 2 days ago
In reply to @pingguo "Admire you, such a good planer!" + (show)
@pingguo

Admire you, such a good planer!

Jump to this post

Honestly, I planned so much that I probably didn’t need half of what I got but better to have and not need than to need and not have. I learned a lot from this site ahead of time. I was more worried about taking care of my family’s stress because it eased mine that way. I felt I was in Great hands at Mayo, so I was more worried about my husband stressing over taking care of me when I got home, so I tried to make it easier on him which made it easier on me. 🤗

REPLY
Mentor
Lisa, Volunteer Mentor | @lls8000 | 1 day ago
In reply to @yts5361 "Hi, Because of where the nodules were, he had explained it would be a small incision..." + (show)
@yts5361

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

Jump to this post

Hi @yts5361, Ouch! It sounds like you've had a terrible time. Hopefully those ribs heal soon, and you get some relief. Working in law enforcement, I'm sure you are used to being active, and are a tough person. Being sidelined has to be frustrating.
What did the pathology report indicate? Are you headed for any additional treatments after some healing time?

REPLY
1 reply
Mentor
Lisa, Volunteer Mentor | @lls8000 | 1 day ago
In reply to @maryckolben "Hi, Yes my surgeon ran a study at anshutz and showed a significant positive trend with..." + (show)
@maryckolben

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!!

Jump to this post

Hi @maryckolben, thanks for sharing your story. Wow, walking is good for us in so many ways, isn't it? Your experience with the nerve block is interesting too. I had breast surgery late last year and had a nerve block (lasted about 3 days). I think it was very helpful. I wonder if the nerve blocks may be something that we see more of as some patients try to avoid the immediate post-surgical need for opiods.
Are you still feeling well, a little better each day? Starting to heal?

REPLY
carolman210 | @carolman210 | 1 day ago

I also had an upper left lobe Segmentectomy in March of this year. They gave me Tramadol and 600 mg ibuprofen. I also had a nerve block. The only thing that was painful was where they had the drainage tube. I was expecting the surgery to be a lot more painful but it wasn’t. I stopped taking the Tramadol when I got home, just took the ibuprofen. I no longer need any type of pain pill.
I’m sorry you had a bad time and I will pray for you.

REPLY
muffyy | @muffyy | 1 day ago

Hi Elsyer,
Good luck on Friday.
I had a robot assisted lower left lobe segmentectomy last Friday. Today is Tuesday and I'm doing pretty well. My family says I look better every day. This morning, I walked to the end of the street and back and up the stairs into my house. This afternoon, I overdid a little carrying something and had to lie on the couch and watch tv for an hour or so. My cough is getting productive and clutching a pillow to my side does the trick. I'm trying to stay on my feet as much as I can, do the breathing exercises, avoid pneumonia, and get my lungs back.
I was in the hospital for two nights. As everyone here says, the chest tube is the worst. As soon as that was out, pain went from 8 to 4. No, wait, the nausea was the worst! I had nausea, constantly. The took me off dilaudid but kept me on tramadol. As soon as they d/c ed the tramadol, the nausea subsided and I became cheerful again. It's amazing how you forgot the yucky stuff.
The pain in my side ( I have 5 small incisions and a larger wound from the tube) got a little worse today. I took off the big dressing yesterday and took a shower, but also my pulmonogogist had told me that the pain would be worst on day 3 because of the narcotics being thoroughly gone. It's well controlled with ibuprofen, acetominophen and methocarbamol, a muscle relaxor.
Sleeping hasn't been a problem, I have a wedge under the head of my mattress to control reflux. I have two pillows around my head and shoulders. This has me in a good enough position to not feel the incisions.
I'll be thinking of you on Friday. You started quite a nice, very informative thread of comments here. Good luck to you!
Muffy

REPLY
1 reply
yts5361 | @yts5361 | 1 day ago
In reply to @lls8000 "Hi @yts5361, Ouch! It sounds like you've had a terrible time. Hopefully those ribs heal soon,..." + (show)
@lls8000

Hi @yts5361, Ouch! It sounds like you've had a terrible time. Hopefully those ribs heal soon, and you get some relief. Working in law enforcement, I'm sure you are used to being active, and are a tough person. Being sidelined has to be frustrating.
What did the pathology report indicate? Are you headed for any additional treatments after some healing time?

Jump to this post

Hi,
Yes, it’s been nonstop pain. I’m writing this in the ER. I woke up with a huge hump of air all down my left back.
I’m going to be admitted so that a radiologist can insert a small chest tube in the hopes of releasing the air.
My doctor came by and said the CT showed some fluid.
So…
If the small chest tube can’t drain everything, then he will have to put a regular chest tube in and see where there could have been a “dislodgment” that caused this sudden change.
I am so done.

REPLY
1 reply
View MoreView Less
Please sign in or register to post a reply.