How was your pain after a lobectomy?

I had 3/4 upper left lobe removed a week ago and the worse pain I am experiencing is nerve pain in my breast. If I move a certain way bend over it is like someone is sticking a hot poker stick thru me. I am learning the pain meds are helping but will NOT take the nerve pain away. Praying it gets better. I have been icing and heating off and on. Do NOT suffer their are all kinds of meds to help. I have had 3 major surgeries in 8 months so I have learned to advocate for myself. No one can tell me how " I should feel". Good Luck!

My surgeon said there would be extreme pain but I had NO idea just how bad the pain would be. It is the spreading of the ribs alright. That was 25 years ago. I still have achiness especially stormy weather. It isn't just the spreading of the ribs but it also pinches the nerves around the ribs. I grew up on dairy farm and been hurt around big animals and machinery and I've had appendix and hysterectomy surgery but that pain was a Sunday picnic in the park compared to thoracotomy.

I had 1/2 of my right upper lobe removed, resected, and about 6 lymph nodes. All done robotic. The cancer was removed . Surgery was about 4-5 hrs. . I awoke from anesthesia in horrible pain . I was sent home 4 hours later after chest tube was removed. (My surgeon said he found patients did better if they went home after surgery. The only pain med I was sent home with was tramadol and hydrocodone. 5 days later, I ended up in the ER. I couldn’t walk from one room to the other without giving out and short of breath . O2 level dropped to 74 while taking a shower or walking as advised by my surgeon. Smaller hospital sent me by ambulance to the large teaching hospital. I spent 5 days in the hospital , on oxygen, 24/7. U entered the hospital for my surgery with O2 levels of 95-98 on average . I wasn’t able to shower without oxygen and I was in panic mode while doing so. A resident came into my room late at night and said he thought I was having anxiety. Fast toward , 3 weeks later , my follow-up with my pulmonologist , he prescribed Xanax . I was in his office attached to my oxygen tank, crying my eyes out. After my second dose, I could actually breathe without oxygen. Diagnosis was that my pain was not controlled , so I wasn’t breathing as I should have which caused my shortness of breath. Whether that is true or not , I still don’t know. It has been 16 weeks since my surgery and I’m so fatigued, I do nothing . I do not take pain meds unless I’m miserable and I still have sharp pains in my chest. If your surgeon says you will go home a few hours after surgery , find another surgeon !

@mmga I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. Though I'm sure it happens, I have never heard of someone being sent home the same day as their surgery for removal of a lobe/part of a lobe! I think your experience was extreme and terrible! I would get another surgeon for check-ups if I were you! Also, they told me if my oxygen level dropped below 90 to go back to the hospital. Of course you were anxious and panicked! You weren't getting enuogh air!

I was told I'd be in the hospital three to five days. I was there five days, the fifth being optional because I was (psychologically) uncomfortable after the tube was removed. I never experienced high level of pain. They gave me oxy when I left but I didn't need it. I did the tyelenol/advil rotation and was fine pain wise.