I had a Video Assisted Thoracic surgery on right lung with wedge resection. While I was off pain meds in 5 days (and those only needed to cough), the side "strangeness" took months, but that side finally normalized.

Hi debhol- I am now on almost 6 weeks post op for the same thing. It does get better! My Dr gave me Lyrica 50mg, for the nerve pain along with Robaxin and Tramadol. I only took the Tramadol (Opioid) for about a week afterward. Stopped the Lyrica and Robaxin the next week. I haven’t had to take anything except an 800 mg ibuprofen, once so far. But the bigger pain came a little after getting off of those meds, and all I did was to make sure to walk every day and keep moving, just slower and more precisely. No jerking, tugging, twisting, etc. Very slow stretching of my arms to go straight above to the ceiling seemed to loosen the tightness on the rib cage. You can also take 2x 500mg of extra strength Tylenol. Of course check with your surgeon to make sure they approve. Hope you feel better real soon. It only seems like a long time, but very soon you will look back and say, “it’s not been that long and I feel good now”!🙏
Best wishes, Cindy