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bottomofthehill

(8,929 posts)
4. First, I am sorry for you and for the pain you are in
Sun Dec 17, 2023, 07:57 PM
Dec 2023

I have suffered from this in the past. I had a VATS surgery. They opened a few holes in my chest and inverted cameras, put an incision between two ribs and opened enough space for a thoracic surgeon to relieve the pressure. Meaning draw the fluid off the lung. I spent two weeks sleeping, when I could sleep in a lazy boy. I could not lay flat. It took a couple days to find a comfortable position

Also, because the doctors want full expansion and contraction of rhe lung, they were very stingy with pain medication. Nothing that would suppress my respiration. One thing that was helpful, maybe more for the incision but maybe for the lung, the doctors left a catheter in with a lidocaine drip. It was held on an external belt about the size of an orange but shrunk as the medicine was dispensed. It sucked but gets better. Remember, it gets better! Please feel free to PM me.

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