Increasing pain over time after Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery

Thanks again for your insight. Did you have both lungs or just one lung involved and was it the surgical lung? What about your oxygen levels? Mine drop below 88 with moderate exercise.
And you said you can breathe normally now? I have been compensating for so long I don't remember normal. I am not sure what I should realistically expect.
My whole story started a year ago with mild shortness of breath: (Nov) bad CT & PET scans, (Dec) angiogram & blockage, VAT surgery, (Feb) Covid, (April ) Stent , cardio rehab , BPPV issue (May), Inflammatory arthritis (Aug) Covid again (Oct) Significant increase shortness of breath, pain with deep breath, new side pain, ER-CT shows pleural effusion, high inflammation markers.

I call Mayo Rochester my winter vacation -IT IS SOUTH of Twin Cities. And nice view from the 18th floor. But my friend's home has a view of the Mediterranean. I did rebook for January, and I got a better flight at least. Now Mayo please fix me.
Local Rheumatologist does not think it is autoimmune, but gave me 6-day MethylPREDNISolone last Friday and it is not doing anything.

vic83
A couple times the deep breath pain about knocked me over. After the thoracentesis I could breath better and felt better. My fluid did return so after awhile I had some of the same problems but it was very gradual, it is hard to quantify when it happened and pain level change. So you'll have to see what the Pulmonologist can schedule. For me, it only took a couple days to schedule and complete the procedure. They test the fluid for alot of things and test results trickle in over the following week. Keep us updated. Sorry you had to postpone your trip to Italy. Mayo is a nice place, but expect Italy for a month would be much preferred over the Gonda Building 18th floor.

Stan, thanks so much for your input- helps me see ahead. I saw the Rheumatologist today and he does not think it is autoimmune. He thinks I should do thoracentesis and will send his report to Mayo Pulmonologist. He did a recheck on my blood work and inflammation markers ESR and CRP are still quite elevated. He told me the Methylprednisolone they gave me in the ER is "industrial strength"!!! That is why I felt better! He gave me six-day dose to feel better now, but Steroids only mask things and need to know what the cause is. And things are getting worse. Not only do I have the side and deep breath pain for two weeks now, but for the last two days I have felt really rotten. I would expect that an analysis of the pleural fluid would be very significant not only for what ails me now but further info on my lung cancer. If it is an infection from bacteria, I have another problem as I got C-diff from amoxicillin and have avoided oral antibiotics since. My trip is off, so I am down in the dumps.

I had this procedure twice. Both in the Gonda Building. Each time was a different Pulmonologist. Dr Braun and Dr Utz. Was maybe a 45 minute procedure, or less.

For curiosity did they do your thoracentesis in the office (Gonda?) or at the hospital? What specialist actually performed it?

Thanks. Yes, Pulmonologist has the CT scan identifying pleurisy - I had ER send actual scan because I know Mayo wants original scans - also for comparison for my future CT scan comparison. I talked to him today and because I had had a sudden inflammation of the hands (painful!) four months back, he is sending me back to the rheumatologist in case I have a developing autoimmune disorder (those impact lungs too) - and he is available to discuss it with that guy. My CT scans always talk about a lot of stuff in my lungs. No talk yet of draining, will see if it resolves or they can find something else first.
Amazing, now Mayo is getting my stuff from Allina. So they had my blood work for him to look at.

Vic, Interesting. I expect the Mayo Pulmononolgist will want to see a CT and make a decision from there. In my case they scheduled the thoracentesis a couple days after they saw the CT. Then they did a lot of lab tests on the fluid and took about a week for all of them to be completed. Hopefully the test results will help determine the cause of the fluid and then they can, hopefully, treat accordingly. Contact your Mayo team again and describe your shortness of breath and deep breath pain. Good Luck

Hi StanKent - well here is an update.
Your deep breath info is correct diagnosis "Pleural Effusion" . So I should change the topic to " Lung Pleural Effusion after surgery"
I talked to Mayo Pulmonologist on Friday but I had no pain at the time so he thought it would resolve itself. (I experienced three days of no pain following the injection of methylPREDNISolone in the ER at time CT scan to avoid reaction to the contrast).
But naturally on Saturday the pain started again right side and in the right lung (the first jab was like an electric bolt). So, I am careful how I breathe and move. It was maybe worse the first day and sometimes in the morning. But I am tired and have increased shortness of breath. Today I saw my Primary who ran some inflammation marker tests (ESR and CRP) and they came back elevated. He referred me back to my Mayo Pulmonologist. Getting his attention is not easy so I have to wait. I have given up hope of going on my trip. The travel is always 22 hours door to door and one has to be in good form. I felt incredibly good the night after the methyLPREDNISolone so I realize I am not in good form now

Your deep breath pain history is interesting to know. I am still better and just had a walk to test myself. I know I have shortness of breath under exertion, but I can walk normally just fine. I am leaving in 18 days for a month. It is just the airplane trip stress otherwise I will be comfortable staying with friends in Italy
I am at Allina too and have connected MyChart Allina to Mayo. From what I understand, Doctors use EPIC system, and it depends how it is set up. And they have to specifically look for reports. Also, Mayo wants actual scans and x-rays.
The Covid vaccine and test information I understand is sent to the Minnesota database so other medical institutions have access to it. In fact, when I had Covid in August, Mayo called me to offer me treatment because I was a Mayo patient, and they had scored me as high risk.
I had VAT surgery with cancer removed last December and then had cardiac stent done in April. Therefore, I was on Plavix and could not take Paxlovid and needed alternative treatment which Mayo provided promptly.

If I recall correctly, my deep breath pain was severe for only a couple days and was milder before and after. I don't know why but think once the lung became accustomed to the extra fluid it hurt less, or maybe the amount fluctuates. Once fluid was removed it felt much better.
For you. too bad the records and images are not totally available to either location. Seems all my routine Allina stuff can be seen on my Mayo portal. Can't remember if my Allina doctor could see my Mayo CT . Anyway, he looked at a Mayo radiology report.
I'm not sure how that all happens but was surprised at what is all on the Mayo portal. ( even my local Walgreens covid booster shows up in their portal)
At one point, I asked Mayo for CT images and they gave me a CD. Diagnostic medical imaging studies are stored and viewed in a specific format called DICOM. Files sizes are really huge and are not as easy to download through the web.