Duration of Severe Pain Following Robot Assisted Upper Left Lobectomy

Cindy,
I knew what you meant and it made me laugh. Thank you for that. Almost 12 days since surgery and I'm up to 3 walks per day of 1/2 a mile each!! I'm tired at the end of the day but as all of these kind and caring people have been saying, it is helping to speed up my recovery. I was concerned about being able to walk from the hospital entrance to the Dr's office for my upcoming visit but not anymore.
Thanks
Steve

Are you able to walk around Walmart pushing a cart?

Yes, if i take it slow and easy I can walk about a mile at one time.

I wonder and I don't have any answers. But I am wondering if some doctors are better than others and their surgery patients have less pain and a shorter time of it? I am going to have my own Robot Assisted Upper Left Lobectomy in October preformed by the Chair of the Mayo Clinic Thoracic Surgery department at Rochester. I am in a study and the heads of the Radiation department and the head of Thoracic Surgery department are working my stage 3a and writing papers on it. For my Chemo, I have the Blue Teem and all their bio's look good, my Chemo nurse is a APRN, C.N.P. with a M.S.N. They are assigning all the top tier teams to work on my case, because it works they will be able to add a step to the care routine for 2 & 3a lung cancer and make more money. Every time I have told someone, doctors or nurses that my doctor back home is upset that I went to Mayo and not treat it our local hospital. Everyone one of them have said the same thing to me, it's about the MONEY, it's always about the money...

Steve- So very glad to hear that you are doing better every day! That’s the way to do it, day by day! 12 days and you’re doing that is wonderful! Also if you do very slow stretches of your arms above your head it helps with the muscles not getting too tight and stiffening up. But very slow and smooth. It will get better each time. Happy 4th of July!
Cindy

As our own advocates, we can’t worry about hurting Doctors feelings and such. My Dr didn’t hesitate when I told him I wanted to be treated at Mayo, in Phoenix. Didn’t hurt his feelings at all. Sent my paperwork ASAP! Now that’s a true doctor! They are supposed to do the best thing for our survival and health, if they get too full of pride to do that, it’s time for a new Doctor. I see my doctor here in Northern AZ for check ups, health screenings, etc., but when it comes to surgery type things, I only trust being cared for at MAYO.
Best of luck to you, and you ARE in THe BEST hands! Please keep us posted on how you’re doing and how the study goes!
Cindy

I read my CT scan and PET scan and immediately told my local Pulmonologist that if we were talking cancer I was going to Mayo (Rochester, I am only two hours away). She was surprised and suggested for speed I could be diagnosed there and treated at Mayo. She wanted to do a needle biopsy. I repeated that I would go to Mayo as my insurance allows me to self-refer (traditional Medicare!). Mayo is number one for Pulmonology & Lung Surgery, and my local clinic despite size is not even ranked, and could not offer the same treatment options. Mayo called me within hours of receiving my scans and gave me an immediate appointment. Turns out I have a complex cancer and Mayo gave me a surgery date with no needle biopsy necessary. They knew it was cancer from the scans.
The lesson here is that one should read the reports from scans and make sure their "specialist" is well qualified in cancer (my local pulmonologist specialized in asthma) and seek out the best expert their insurance will allow them.

Hi Vic! Good morning. I want to add one thing to your wonderful advice and how you handled your situation.

If you aren't in the medical field, reports and scans can be daunting to understand. One thing that I still do after 25 years of lung cancer is to look up every single word that I don't know. And if I still don't understand, I'll ask my doctor on my next visit.

Knowledge is power and it helps to be less afraid and helps with making decisions.

Merry

Hi Merry, good to hear from you.
Thank you for pointing out that one should look up every term they don't know. After a while it begins to sink in - that is the learning process ....and I have sometimes known things that medical professional didn't know!

lol, me too. Intuition, baby!