Before the surgery I would be out of breath just climbing one flight of stairs. Debilitating headaches was another issue I dealt with. Now from the surgery which was 4 years ago I have constant pain. Some days are worse than others. I still live my life the best I can. I guess you get used to it or become numb to it after so much time. My injury was trauma to the right side of my chest which could be causing the pain to be worse. I just wish I would have exhausted all other options before the surgery. I don’t know whether the surgery increased my breathing or not. It seemed to be the same for me. Brian