Coughing post lobectomy

Hello. About 2 weeks ago my husband had a successful robotic lower right lobe lobectomy to remove a 2.8 cm nsc adenocarcinoma. He had great lung function before surgery. No underlying conditions. He was recovering very well for a week and saw the surgeon who was very happy with the progress. He had very little pain and the incisions were healing. He has recently developed a persistent, nonproductive cough that is especially annoying when he talks. Fortunately, he is able to sleep if he sleeps more or less sitting up. It’s especially bad in the evening.We plan to get in touch with the surgeon tomorrow to see if he has anything to help deal with this. I have read that it is common. Hopefully it will resolve. He’s doing his breathing exercises even though they make him cough. He’s staying hydrated and using cough drops. Does anybody have any other ideas for him? It’s really debilitating.