Increasing pain over time after Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery

Hi
I am new here
I had a robotic right lower lobectomy 6 weeks ago. I had no pain for 4 weeks when suddenly I had terrible back and front pain. Doc didn’t know much about lungs and gave me ibruprophen. Saw my surgeon at end of 5th week who said everything was very very good. Thought I may have pulled muscles as it is on opposite side to surgery lung. Some sites say this can happen as you start to be more active and the lung and other organs are filling in spaces. Also could be pain in ribs where robotic arms may have touched ribs. Anyone had this experience and how long did it take to feel better. Feels slightly better but very minimal. Don’t understand why it should suddenly start and why on good side Appreciate any feedback

@ruthiepeg2 Curious, are you coughing at all? I have had severe pain since July. It was usually at the site of the operation, but now it feels like my lower rib on the opposite site is painful. I know it takes awhile for the lung to "drop" into the space created by the removal of lower lung being wedged, so I have tried to be patient. Just seems like the pain should have resolved 9 months post surgery. I am at the point I may go into the ER and just have an X-ray to see if anything has changed on either side. I ended up switching to a doctor who is a specialist in carcinoid tumors not far from me. He admitted that doing lung surgery with a robot can often result in PTPS. (Post-thoracotomy pain syndrome). It is caused primarily by intercostal nerve damage. For some people it can be so bad they have to go on disability. I'm praying the nerve block will work this time. I'm tired.

Welcome @ruthiepeg2, Ouch, that sounds rough. When you just want to feel better, additional pain is a real struggle. Did your doctors mention doing any scans since the pain started? Just to make sure that everything looks ok. Just a thought, I'm not a clinician, just a patient like you. Some members have mentioned broken ribs from surgery, but I'm not sure if that would be a delayed pain such as yours.

@nannybb Thanks for reply. Since posting I have been taking Ibuprofen which has helped quite lot with pain. Odd thing is it does not cause a lot of problems when I sleep. At week 5 I did do some hoovering which I think aggravated nerves muscles. I am 75 and I think it is too much too soon. Coming up to week 8 and feeling less pain. However I do have anxiety which may aggravate how I feel. Have been told this could pain for 3 to 6 months re right lower lobectomy which takes longer to heal as it is the biggest lobe of both lungs. Have not been breathless. Have just hoovered again and exhausted moderate pain after. Walking isn’t moving so many muscles. I have been told I am pushing too hard and body will heal in its own time. I am impatient and bored
Wish you recovery

Short answer is yes. It took 2+
Years to subside for me 2yrs of pain with Every.deep.breath.

I too had a small stage0 mass and lost my left lower lobe.

I too had scans and all manner of exploration looking for aource of pain. Nada. I cant do NSAIDs and don’t do narcotics. But I will tell you that a course of prednisone did the trick for me. It came back but i got a brief interlude where I could take a deep breath. That suggested it was garden variety inflammation.
I needed to keep prednisone ‘special’ so if I had an RA Flare it would be effective . So I worked with my Rheumy and would take a five day course periodically - helped me mentally to put that pain on the shelf for a few days. In between alternate icepack and heat Pads when you’re just relaxing. And do those stupid “blow into the gizmo” breathing
Exercises.

It finally subsided for the last time after a couple Of years.

I hope that is helpful. Good luck!!

@ruthiepeg2 I do have anxiety at times as well. I have been taking pretty high doses of Tylenol as per my doctors advise. I know when 6 hours are up and it is time for more. I refused narcotics. I also find walking to be beneficial and causing less pain. Your explaination of why, made perfect sense....using less muscles. I was wondering what you mean by the term "hoovering." Could you explain please?

@nannybb hoovering is vacuuming ; )

@pb50 Thank you for your post. Amazing the prednisone worked for you, but I can see why. You would think doctors would think to prescribe these alternative therapies, especially with pain lasting so long. You mentioned you had your entire lower lobe removed (?) Did they use staples internally? I had quite a few, and only had a lower lobe wedge. I don't do well with some metals and thought that could be causing my pain. Was the lessening of your pain a gradual thing over time for you? I was told I would be back to work after 6 weeks. Not a happening thing.