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I had the operation on my right lung 3 weeks ago. They removed a 9cm mass from my right lower lobe. The last 3 weeks I have had difficulty breathing. I am always short of breath especially while taking showers. My question is has anybody had this operation and experienced the difficulty breathing like me and how long does the shortness of breath last ? I would appreciate anybody's comments on this.
Hi Jim, Yes I had the same problem and especially while taking a shower. Give it a couple of weeks and I am betting that you will see a huge difference. The advise my doctor gave me was to measure the amount of relief by the week, not by the day as healing comes slowly and it's hard to see any improvment on a daily basis. Hang in there! It is a slow recovery but in 6 months from now you will hopefully be running around with no pains and cancer free...Best Reguards, Birdy
jiml40... Sorry to hear about your operation. I had the my entire upper right lobe removed with a 2 cm mass in Feb 2009. I did have a lot of problems in the beginning but now, it has gotten alot better. I do notice that if it is hot and humid outside I do feel it is harder to breath. I use an inhaler if I need to. The pain is still there from the surgery and I have been told that it can last up to a year.
Did you have the entire lobe removed?
Good luck to you and hope you feel better.
Thanks Birdie for the words of encouragement. I hope you have a good day.
Thanks for the reply. I had my right lower lobe removed. On Oct 5th I see the oncologist to start chemo. YUCK. Thanks again for the info.
My surgeon told me that it could take up to two years to get over the surgery. My surgery was in March of 2007. I had the upper right lobe removed. Don't think it took that long but it sure was a lot longer than I wanted it to be. Hot, humid weather still bothers me. We were in Washington DC in August with temps 94* and humid. I did a lot better than I thought I would, and was ever so thankful. I was able, most of the time, to keep up with the rest of the family. Really had a great time seeing everything. Did a whole lot of walking.
Jim, I also had non small cell cancer removed in my upper right lobe and they resectioned my bottom lobe and removed the lymph nodes (which I will add was not cancer) It has been five weeks now and I have noticed a big difference after this last week for the first time. I have great mornings but the afternoons are pretty rought yet. But one of the members suggested a heating pad and wow does that make a difference. By 5 or 6 pm I have to quit my activity as it gets too tight but it does get better. Walking really does help with the tightness too. I just cannot sit too long. Hope all that helps. I do use Advair once in the morning and once in the evening. I guess it helps. Just hang in there I promise, it does get better.
I should also add that I had the standard thru the back surgery so it takes longer.
Hi.....
This is D.J. again, I also had my upper right lobe removed in July....It has been 10 weeks. I also had the surgery through my back. I saw my oncologist yesterday, everything is good except the CT scan showed I had a little fluid in my lung. The Dr. didn't seemed concerned, is this normal and caused from the surgery? Also, when I bend over it causes me to cough, is this normal? Now my scar on my back itches so bad, again, normal? My cancer was stage 1. No treatment, follow-ups every 3 months for a while, then every 6 months. I get out of breath easily also. I wonder how long all of this takes to recuperate from this..It was certainly a horrible surgery..And like you, I still hurt....
I have stage1 also, but the mass on my lung was 9 cm so I have to have chemo. It's frustrating because everything I do I get very short of breath. I know it's only been 3 weeks since my surgery so I should give it time. Thanks for replying back to me.
i had 2 lower lobes right lung removed. i was on oxygen for about 2 mths with shortness of breath and was worse when taking a shower.for me breathing kept improving and i would say 6mths post op my breathing is pretty good. i did have my doubts because it took so long. i was a smoker and was in hospital for two weeks with pneumonia which i'm sure slowed my breathing recovery. still have some back and chest pain but nothing like the beginning.i went through hell at first .my surgery was march 4th i think most people recover quicker.hang in there it only gets better.
I had a bilobectomy two and a half weeks ago -- right upper and middle lobes along with more than a dozen lymph nodes. VATS was attempted, but they went in through the back.
At this point I'm feeling only background pain, pretty much stopped the pain meds (except for occasional Tylenol). I've been walking my dog for the past several days now and the walk includes a pretty good incline.
Had a slight pneumothorax in the remaining right lobe but was told that was normal.
About the scar itching, yes that was annoying, but was told by the nurses that that was a good sign -- that it was healing. Not bothering me anymore.
I was staged at 1B with a 4cm tumor, all else negative. So now I'm faced with the agonizing decision of whether to do chemo, or just observation.
I had a lower right lobe removed almost a year ago. It happened after two rounds chemo and radiation for 6 months. Now the CT shows no tumour, but my remaining right lung has a rather big size of fibration (?) because of the radiation and because of some decades of smoking.
The breath is shorter but I only feel it when I go up the hills or the stairs, it is out of the question that I run up, as I did. I can walk smoothly on a flat road. But this is really nothing for life. I wish all the best for this wonderful group, which kept my hopes, V.
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