Your chest may hurt and be swollen for up to 6 weeks. It may ache or feel stiff for up to 3 months. For up to 3 months, you may also feel tightness, itching, numbness, or tingling around the cut (incision) the doctor made. Your doctor will give you medicines to help with pain.
Lung surgery is typically a major operation that involves general anesthesia and several weeks of recovery, although minimally invasive options exist that can shorten recovery time.
After the surgery on your lung, your surgeon will close the ribs, muscles, and skin with sutures. Open lung surgery may take from 2 to 6 hours.
A thoracotomy requires a very painful incision, involving multiple muscle layers, rib resection, and continuous motion as the patient breathes.
Start with short and simple walks, and gradually increase length and intensity. You can walk as much as you like as long as you feel comfortable, and daily walking - if only for a few minutes - is ideal. To learn more about exercising after lung surgery, watch the video below.
There is a risk of problems or complications after any operation. Possible problems after lung cancer surgery include feeling tired, an air leak from the lung, breathing problems, or pain. Pain can sometimes last for months. Other risks include infection, blood clots in the legs or lungs, and bleeding.
Recovery from a lung resection may take weeks or months. Usually, people who can have minimally invasive surgery recover faster.
The most common side effects of lung cancer surgery are pain, loss of appetite, and an increased risk of infection (about three of every four patients experience these symptoms). Blood clots are another common complication from any type of surgery.
You may take Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Advil, Aleve, or any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that is over the counter, as long as you do not have stomach or kidney problems. These medications can be taken in addition to the narcotics. The short-acting pain medication has large doses of Tylenol in it.
Your surgeon will make a surgical cut between two ribs. The cut will go from the front of your chest wall to your back, passing just underneath the armpit. These ribs will be separated or a rib may be removed. Your lung on this side will be deflated so that air will not move in and out of it during surgery.
While many people regard lung cancer surgery as a means to "cut out the cancer," one of the primary aims of the surgery is to restore or improve the quality of life. And, despite what some may think, people can live normal, active lives even when part or all of a lung is removed.
You can sleep in any position that is comfortable. Some patients need to sleep sitting in an upright position at first. It may be painful to sleep on your side, but it will not hurt your heart or incisions.
A: How someone recovers depends upon their pulmonary function. Some patients have shortness of breath that goes away a week after surgery; others might have shortness of breath that goes away a few weeks after surgery.
You will be taught deep-breathing exercises and coughing methods to help your lungs re-expand after surgery. This is to help breathing and prevent pneumonia. You may need oxygen for a period of time after surgery. In most cases, the oxygen will be stopped before you go home.
The duration for which a chest tube is needed varies but is usually a few days. In certain situations, patients can be sent home with a chest tube; however, in most cases they are removed before discharge from the hospital.
Swelling and Bruising.
Tissue injury, whether accidental or intentional (e.g. surgery), is followed by localized swelling. After surgery, swelling increases progressively, reaching its peak by the third day. It is generally worse when you first arise in the morning and decreases throughout the day.
Usually, your doctor will administer general anesthesia (make you feel sleepy). Once you are sedated, your doctor may insert a breathing tube through your throat into your lungs and connect you to a ventilator. This will breathe for you during surgery.
Your surgery will begin with you being placed under general anesthesia. Once you are asleep, a breathing tube is placed into your airway to allow each lung to be separately inflated during surgery.
Lobectomy is the removal (resection) of the lobe of the lung affected by lung cancer. This is the most commonly performed lung cancer surgery. A bilobectomy is the removal of two lobes and is only done for tumors of the right lung where the tumor involves two adjacent lobes.
Your doctor will tell you when you can start driving again but it is usually about 4 to 6 weeks after surgery. It might be sooner than this after keyhole surgery. Some insurance companies also specify that you shouldn't drive for a certain amount of time after chest surgery.
Benign (noncancerous) pulmonary lung nodules require no treatment. Cancerous lung nodules, however, usually are surgically removed. The procedures used depend on the size, condition and location of the nodule. Observation with repeat CT scans in three to six months may be recommended.
The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines for perioperative evaluation and management for non-cardiac surgery is a useful resource; thoracic surgery being classified as high-risk in the context of that guidance (31).