Pain after robotic assisted lobectomy: How long does it last?

My doctor also said he zapped the nerves, so I asked him why I have so much pain. He said my pain would’ve been worse without it. Geez. 🤷‍♀️

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I am due to have minimally invasive surgery in the 24th. I am having a segmentectomy of my left upper lung. Has anyone NOT taken the opioids after they get home and only taken 800mg ibuprofen? I ask because codein and those do not work on me and I’d rather stay off of that stuff. Is the pain the same if it’s a Lobectomy vs a Segmentectomy? How soon are you walking about? Any answers would be appreciated.
Thank you😀

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@cmcguire10, it's only been a couple of days since your surgery, but I thought I'd drop a note to let you know I was thinking about you. I look forward to getting your update when you're able.

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Hi Colleen, Wow! Thank you for checking in on me! I feel very good. I had only one bad pain while in the hospital. The weirdest thing! It was the back of my left arm. The tricep. It was a 10 on the pain scale. Told the nurses and the doctors, they couldn’t tell me why. I finally figured it out myself. Whenever they would move the chest tube box or tube itself I would get the weird pain. When I would get in bed that is when it would it hard, but when I would sit in the chair or walk I had no pain. So I asked the nurse to put a pillow behind my left side so I could stay laying more on my right. No pain. The tube was hitting some kind of nerve when I would lay down! When they said I could get it out, my nurses and I then noticed I could now lay flat and not get that horrible pain! I’m only putting all this on here in case it happens to anyone else. I was getting all kinds of pain medicines that I could have avoided had someone known. Not blaming anyone, it’s just a weird happening and maybe it will help someone else.
They did the segmentectomy of my Left upper lung and while in there saw a suspicious thing on my lingula so also did a wedge to take that out. The LUL was adenocarcinoma and the thing on the lingula was a granuloma , not malignant. They also took the lymph nodes and will get those results tomorrow whether they are clear or not.
My family is a wonderful support. My Husband is Awesome. I am continuing to use the incentive inspirometer and when I feel lazy my husband will keep “bugging” me to do it. I have been pleasantly surprised since the moment I woke up from surgery. I could breath on my own, good breathing too! I thought I would be struggling to get breaths. I thought I was going to be in some bad pain when the anesthesia and those medicines wore off, didn’t happen. Only the arm pain mentioned above. I didn’t get the shoulder pain from the CO2 either. I was given Delodten (sp?) Lyrica, Extra Strength Tylenol, Robaxin, topodol, and tramadol. Also stool softeners and acid reducers. At home I have the Lyrica, Tramadol, Robaxin and 800mg Ibuprofen. I walk slower but walk around a lot. Got to keep the blood flowing and it does actually make me feel better. I’m assuming the bigger pains will be coming in a few more days as the nerve block will be wearing off. We’ll see how that goes. I also had my breast implants and capsules removed at the same time as they had been at stage IV encapsulation for over 20 years and if any targeted radiation is necessary they would be in the way and need removed for that.
I feel good at this time. Will update in about a week after my check up on the 3rd of April,

Thank you all for being here and taking time to answer other peoples questions and sharing your stories. It was very helpful for me, I know that.

Hope this helps someone🙏

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You have a great attitude for someone who has been through all that. I agree that that sharp pain was probably nerve pain. I had something similar when I developed pleural effusion after a lobectomy. Hang in there and keep walking and using the spirometer.

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Hi Colleen, Wow! Thank you for checking in on me! I feel very good. I had only one bad pain while in the hospital. The weirdest thing! It was the back of my left arm. The tricep. It was a 10 on the pain scale. Told the nurses and the doctors, they couldn’t tell me why. I finally figured it out myself. Whenever they would move the chest tube box or tube itself I would get the weird pain. When I would get in bed that is when it would it hard, but when I would sit in the chair or walk I had no pain. So I asked the nurse to put a pillow behind my left side so I could stay laying more on my right. No pain. The tube was hitting some kind of nerve when I would lay down! When they said I could get it out, my nurses and I then noticed I could now lay flat and not get that horrible pain! I’m only putting all this on here in case it happens to anyone else. I was getting all kinds of pain medicines that I could have avoided had someone known. Not blaming anyone, it’s just a weird happening and maybe it will help someone else.
They did the segmentectomy of my Left upper lung and while in there saw a suspicious thing on my lingula so also did a wedge to take that out. The LUL was adenocarcinoma and the thing on the lingula was a granuloma , not malignant. They also took the lymph nodes and will get those results tomorrow whether they are clear or not.
My family is a wonderful support. My Husband is Awesome. I am continuing to use the incentive inspirometer and when I feel lazy my husband will keep “bugging” me to do it. I have been pleasantly surprised since the moment I woke up from surgery. I could breath on my own, good breathing too! I thought I would be struggling to get breaths. I thought I was going to be in some bad pain when the anesthesia and those medicines wore off, didn’t happen. Only the arm pain mentioned above. I didn’t get the shoulder pain from the CO2 either. I was given Delodten (sp?) Lyrica, Extra Strength Tylenol, Robaxin, topodol, and tramadol. Also stool softeners and acid reducers. At home I have the Lyrica, Tramadol, Robaxin and 800mg Ibuprofen. I walk slower but walk around a lot. Got to keep the blood flowing and it does actually make me feel better. I’m assuming the bigger pains will be coming in a few more days as the nerve block will be wearing off. We’ll see how that goes. I also had my breast implants and capsules removed at the same time as they had been at stage IV encapsulation for over 20 years and if any targeted radiation is necessary they would be in the way and need removed for that.
I feel good at this time. Will update in about a week after my check up on the 3rd of April,

Thank you all for being here and taking time to answer other peoples questions and sharing your stories. It was very helpful for me, I know that.

Hope this helps someone🙏

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Knock, knock, it's time for the next update, @cmcguire10. You promised. How did the check up go on April 3?

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Hi Colleen- Thank you for the reminder! I am doing good. Actually started back working (from home) last Wednesday for 6 hours a day. Next week I will work, from home, 8 hours a day. My check ups went well. I had one for my lung the week after surgery and one for the breasts 2 weeks after surgery. Healing well, and pathology came back on lymph nodes- NO carcinoma! No carcinomas in breast either. My cancer was Adenocarcinoma acinar predominant (40%) with lepidic (30%), papillary
(15%), and micropapillary (15%) subtypes. Staged at pT1bN0. As it had not spread anywhere else I do not need any further treatments just to return every 6 months for a CT scan for the next 2 years and then down to 1 annually if all stays clear🤞. Only taking 50mg of Lyrica twice a day for now. Planning to end that pretty soon as well. The only way to explain how I feel is, I think the Implant removal has been more painful than the lung surgery! For the lung surgery, only a tender area in the front left rib area right below the breast area. (Separate incision for lung surgery not breast) where that incision is. I Still get the “double breath” every once in a while, but that’s ok. I have found that sometimes doing a big yawn is a little painful but sneezes are not as bad as I thought they were going to be! Still walking about a mile a day and relaxing a little more than I used to. I have realized that I don’t always NEED to be busy and doing things. It’s okay to sit and look out the window at the bunnies or flowers or birds, and just relax and enjoy. I’ll be zooming around soon.
Best to ALL!
Cindy

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