l v r s -

[tigerhouse]

this is tigerhouse's hubby asking these question,s, if any fellow members have had this done prehaps you could answer the following qeustions, my wife had her operation on the 1st of april this month, at the royal brompton, it was for the right hand lung, she had key hole surgery, but come easter monday she delevoped some problems, she was kept on 4 / 6 litres of oxygen, as she was still having breathing problems , but her lung was leaking air into other parts of her body, so much so her face basically swelled up like a balloon, she could not see out of both eyes, her tongue was very swollen, they had to do an emergency operation the following morning to repair the damage, the swelling has now all but disappeared, but almost 3 weeks now she still is in the high dependancy unit & still has the drains in, so the questions are, if you had the drains it, how long for ? , how long did you stay in the h.d.u ward ?, how long was your overall stay in hospital, finally on being left to go home, did anyone get any kind of support , i.e home visits from a nurse ? have tryed getting these answers from various doctors , but going round in circles trying to get some answers, any info from anyone who has had this op done, i would be very gratful if you could share your experience, thank you.

[Puffthemagicdragon]

I can't help you with this but I know some members have had it done and I'm sure they will get back to you about it.

[Puffthemagicdragon]

I just found this link from a previous post. I hope some of it may help.

healthunlocked.com/search/l...

[Hidden]

Oh goodness,poor Tiger,it seems she has had a rough ride.

Sorry I do not have any advice for you,except for demanding a family conference,& finding out where you all stand,I'm surprised more wasn't explained to you.

Do hope things take a turn for the better,for both of you,

Gentle hugs to Tiger,take care,Wen xxx

[TONYFARR]

I had mine done 11 years ago, by cutting the chest open and performing the op. Luckily I had no trouble with the op, however for nearly 2 weeks I had the most uncomfortable feeling with the drain pipes, the only position I could tolerate was sitting down. I was in that position all the time except for walking etc.

I was in hospital all up about 3 weeks and because I lived in Rural Australia, I really did not get much help, so the only way that I was told in hospital that exercise was the best form of rehab and she has to adhere to that or all the pain she went trough will be wasted. Finally the local Hospital started a rehab for COPD and I managed to get in. The only advice here is that you insist that the doctors or rehab nurse gives you written instructions on the sort of exercises and MAKE SURE she sticks to it

When your wife comes out of hospital MAKE SURE she does NOT COME in CONTACT with anyone with a cold or flu. Her immune system gets affected with the op and the cold/flu turns into pneumonia quick smart. Pump as many vitamin as possible to build her immune system.

I made the stupid mistake of catching the cold/flu and I went down big time.

I personally feel had I heeded my own advise, I would be in a better shape now.

Good luck Tiger, and when your wife comes out of hospital she will be in a better shape.

Ciao,

Tony

[FarmerD]

Talk to your GP about community nurse visits,I,m sure they will arrange something after such a big operation.D.

[Suzy6]

I ca't help but would like to say give her my best wishes and please fight her fight with her. Get all the support you can for all sources. Look after her and yourself. Suzyxxx

[jenss]

HI I hope you wife will recover well. Tonyfarr's advise re the immune system boosting vitamins (C, D, garlic capsules, probiotics and ask your dr for more/others) and avoiding unwell people is spot on. Good luck to you bothxxx

[notlocal]

Results of my CT scan going well, I'm due for LVRS in June. Find out next week. Air escaping was one of the possible problems my surgeon mentioned. The other one was the risk of infection in the days after the op. Said it could go 'very badly' for me if so (= death, I asked!). Hope tigerhouse is well soon and back home.

[sassy59]

Just wanting to send very best wishes to tigerhouse and yourself. Hope things turn out well and you get all the help and support you need. xxx

[tigerhouse]

many thanks to all of you who replyed to my concerns, to be fair, the staff are excellent

mr simon jordan, the consultant who did the op on my wife, he came to her bedside, held her hand, and apologized for all the "nasty " things that their have to put patients thru, i.e getting them to exercise after a major op when they are so tired etc,but as he pointed out,patients must exercise to help re-inflate their lung, but as he pointed out 99% of his patients have come back to him with much gratitute, i was at my wife's bedside when he said all this to her, but so much is dependant of each patient being able to exercise as a means of helping their own recovery & in doing so getting out of hospital sooner rather than later, she has been invited to go back to their harefield hospital to do another course of rehab to aid her recovery in the longer term, so all in all things are looking up, thanks again, tom.

[Perce]

I had my LVRS through my ribs at the back and they still ache if I get too cold now 2.5 years after the op, I was in HDU for 4 days and in Harefield for 10 days in total had 2 drains in for 5 days, it was difficult to walk about hooked up to an oxygen cylinder and two drains and it took three of us to go anywhere so they got some pedals that I had to use for exercise until the drains where taken out. Sewing up a lung is like sewing up a bowl of jelly my surgeon told me it’s not easy to do and not easy to heal so that is why the drains are there

[USAhousewife]

I had a left lung spontanous pnemothorax, they put in a chest tube with vac drain. A week later, they preformed VATS. A half hour after getting in my room, I began to swell, OMG did I ever blow up! I'm a tiny person, they were cutting XL shirts off me. I went back to surgery, for thorocotomy, this time they found and fixed all the holes. They did the ripping out of the lining, you name it. Within hours I began to return to my correct size. I was released 7 days later. I now have PTPS, Post Thorasic Pain Syndrome. I go to a Pain Management Physician, he gives me epidurals and pain meds. I'm past the 3 year mark, so I am hoping I'll never have another one. I am on Symbacort and Spiriva daily, as well as a rescue inhaler. I hope this helps