Increasing pain over time after Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery

@lemmoar I am dealing with the some of the same issues. I have had the nerve block and acupuncture. My pain specialist is going to try to "capture" the pain at the end of this month. If she feels she has found the area causing the pain she will do an ablation. I'm not looking forward to either procedure, but I've got to get back to work. You didn't mention an ablation. Did they do that for you after the nerve block?

Hi
I am new here
I had a robotic right lower lobectomy 6 weeks ago. I had no pain for 4 weeks when suddenly I had terrible back and front pain. Doc didn’t know much about lungs and gave me ibruprophen. Saw my surgeon at end of 5th week who said everything was very very good. Thought I may have pulled muscles as it is on opposite side to surgery lung. Some sites say this can happen as you start to be more active and the lung and other organs are filling in spaces. Also could be pain in ribs where robotic arms may have touched ribs. Anyone had this experience and how long did it take to feel better. Feels slightly better but very minimal. Don’t understand why it should suddenly start and why on good side Appreciate any feedback

Short answer is yes. It took 2+
Years to subside for me 2yrs of pain with Every.deep.breath.

I too had a small stage0 mass and lost my left lower lobe.

I too had scans and all manner of exploration looking for aource of pain. Nada. I cant do NSAIDs and don’t do narcotics. But I will tell you that a course of prednisone did the trick for me. It came back but i got a brief interlude where I could take a deep breath. That suggested it was garden variety inflammation.
I needed to keep prednisone ‘special’ so if I had an RA Flare it would be effective . So I worked with my Rheumy and would take a five day course periodically - helped me mentally to put that pain on the shelf for a few days. In between alternate icepack and heat Pads when you’re just relaxing. And do those stupid “blow into the gizmo” breathing
Exercises.

It finally subsided for the last time after a couple Of years.

I hope that is helpful. Good luck!!

@lemmoar, I moved your comment to this existing discussion.
- Increasing pain over time after Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/increasing-pain-over-time-after-video-assisted-thoracic-surgrey/

I did this so you can connect with other members, like @stanleykent @vic83 @pb50 and others.

Has anyone had increased chronic side, abdomen & back pain 2+ years post left lung lobectomy surgery, and/or a protruding bone under the left breast, where chest tube inserted during surgery?
My abdomen is also still numb.
I am 2+ years out from surgery, and my pain is increasing. Pain pills do not even help, even though my dosage of gabapentin has been increased to900 mg daily. I have done every type of suggested treatment with no help. (PT, nerve block, acupuncture, chiro, massage therapy, spine & abdomen MRI, neurologist)
I believe my surgeon performed a sloppy, negligent surgery.

Thank you for any input.

I can't relate exactly to your situation, but do have experience with surgeries. Healing pains are definitely a thing. They diminish over time. Your doctor should be able to explain more about the nerves that transmit these sensations...

Hi, I had an open thoracotomy in September (started as VATS but they had to go open due to calcified lymph nodes that weren’t coming out easily) to remove left upper lung for stage 1A mucinous adenocarcinoma nodule. I was in the hospital for 6 days with two chest tubes and in a lot of pain. But after a few weeks, I wasn’t taking my Lyrica and only oxy at night. After 2 months, I felt a lot better and now take Tylenol PM if I have pain at night. But it seems like I’m getting more intermittent pain lately. After my first check up they did notate some fluid but not enough to remove. My pain is not caused by breathing. I get sharp, stabbing pains by my incision and more throbbing pain under left breast to sternum. It does sometimes wake me up. I’m assuming it is nerve related. I have my first official “check for cancer” CT scan and appointment with my pulmonologist Tuesday. Can’t deny that I’m worried pain is related to recurring cancer but I realistically think it is just my body recovering from surgery. In reality, the aches cause me more mental than physical pain. It is comforting hearing other people’s experiences so thanks to all of you for sharing.

Thanks. I have one of those. I’ll try it.

I have same thing but they are filled with seed corn - so they don’t cook when heated. But they smell like corn 🙂

I have two rice bags that are microwaveable and they really help relieve the pain.