Post op lung pain

[doone62]

Mum finished treatment approx 3 weeks ago on the tumour on her lung. However she seems to be in as much pain now as she was before the treatment. Have been told will be worse before it gets better but is this normal?

[rammie6]

Hi, I hope your Mum is doing ok. I had a Lower right Lobectomy in 2012 and remember clearly being in terrible pain for many weeks and initially needing morphine, topped up with various painkillers as soon as they were due for a few weeks. It was so bad that we kept a log of all drugs so I knew to the minute when I could take the next dose. We staggered the Paracetamol and Ibruprofen so that I was taking something approx every 2 hours.It does improve slowly and once well enough I tried to do a small walk each day, at first only yards, but gradually increasing. Even now 6 years on I still have some pain in the scar sites, particularly from the drains, but just try to ignore it!

[doone62 in reply to rammie6]

Hi Tammie. This sounds so similar to mums. Believe we have nearly got their with the pain management. I’ve been keeping a log now of mums pain on a 1 to 10 basis and when and what meds so we have an idea like you when she needs to take her intermediary meds as I call it. Thank you for your reply it’s really something positive and can relay to mum and dad that they are not alone in this and others have faced the same thing.

[doone62 in reply to doone62]

Oops sorry rammie predictive text!! Good luck for the future.

[rammie6 in reply to doone62]

That's ok! My Daughter kept my log, but we found the main thing was to keep pain medication topped up and to never let thE pain get to full sack because then not only was it difficult to deal with it took a long time to get back under control. Sending best wishes x

[rammie6 in reply to rammie6]

*wack* not sack!

[JanetteR57]

I'm unsure what treatment your mum had. I had a left upper lobectomy in Dec 2010 and didn't have pain before the treatment. My main pain came from a) removal of the drain tubes and b) constipation despite having open surgery and ribs cut during the process. I came off painkillers too quickly (had allergic response to morphine so was keen to get off others too) but it came and went. Important to move about and try to keep active to some extent to keep muscles/lungs functioning - otherwise when we start to move about, it will be painful. My next pain episode was when I tried to resume swimming 3 months after swimming but I carried on... and went onto swim further than I ever did before surgery. It's important to be patient - if it was surgery, this is major trauma so the body can take time to recover even if in our minds, we feel ok but we must balance rest with ensuring we are active enough. I tended to try a little walk most days and my body would tell me if I'd overdid it and I'd rest a little more the next day before resuming activity the next day. good luck.

[doone62 in reply to JanetteR57]

Aww thanks janette. Appreciate your reply. It wasn’t surgery but radical radio. Think you are right about time. Hopefully we have sorted the pain management now so going forward when mum gets a niggle we can give the medication and stop it getting too severe for her. Good luck janette you are quite inspirational.

[JanetteR57 in reply to doone62]

In the last few years I've become involved in patient advocacy in the UK, and lung cancer research and sit on a number of different groups/committees and privileged to attend lung cancer conferences where I read/hear the latest developments that are just so inspiring. I've met survivors of lung cancer who've lived 20+ years - so humbled to have met so many wonderful people not to mention some fantastically skilful and dedicated clinicians since my own experience. We all have our stories but if they can help others understand that there is life after diagnosis and there is much more hope in the last few years as more and more treatments are becoming available and more being understood about the conditions, that this should offer hope to many more. For me the frustration is that they are not known about by the general public or many family doctors so there needs to be much more publicity about the 'better health news' but unfortunately, that seems of little interest to programme makers. good luck.

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Dear doone62

Sorry to hear your Mum being in pain, there have been excellent and encouraging responses to your post. With radiotherapy, sometimes this can make the skin extra sensitive and there can be nerve pain, e.g your Mum may find cold will trigger the pain, it may be useful to look at any triggers and prepare/avoid them. If you feel there is little pain relief your Mum is having from the pain medication, do get this assessed with either the GP/ lung cancer nurse or Specialist doctor.

If you wish to discuss anything you can call us on our free nurse led helpline number on 0800 358 7200.

Kind regards

The Roy Castle Support Team