Lobectomy

Oh, what a challenging journey so far for your Dad.  I've also had sepsis following chemo, twice actually, and it's awful.  I had surgery at Guy's in April 2017.  They were brilliant.  My surgeon seemed very young, but if you take the skill of the surgeon as it relates to pain and discomfort after the surgery (as I do...) he was fantastic. I had a thoracotomy and an upper right lobectomy. They fitted me with a pump for pain relief in the first hours after the surgery, and I only needed half of it, and had to be reminded to use it actually.  Then I only needed minimal oral pain relief for the next few days and after discharge. I had two drains, which were frequently checked.  They get you up pretty quickly and encourage you to walk, towing your drip and drains on a stand, and send you off to the gym for daily exercise, which helps you to recover.  They Xray you often to see how you're doing.  They told me I would be in hospital 4-5 days, but actually it took 9 because I got Hospital Acquired Pneumonia, but even that was OK.  I would reassure your Dad that they will take very good care of him, and he will probably recover from this major surgery much quicker than he fears.  There is a hostel just over the road especially for a support person to get accommodation so that he can have a support person close by.  My husband was mine, and it was such a comfort.  Would love to know how your Dad does.  The very fact that he's a candidate for surgery is a good sign.  Good luck!  

PamelaAnne , thank you so much for taking the time to reply . It’s a comfort to know you had a positive experience with your surgery at Guys . It’s an anxious tile for my dad and us all but your comment has given us some reassurance . I hope you are doing well now and living a happy and healthy life . 

xx

Hi,

I had a lower right lobectomy at about the same age a couple of years ago and wrote up all about it here: community.macmillan.org.uk/.../so-what-s-it-like-to-have-a-lower-right-lobectomy-here-goes

Nowhere near as bad as I expected, no pain (being pain-free is important to allow normal breathing), the worst part was constipation caused by the pain killers (but lactulose liquid tastes OK and being liquid allows the dose to be fine tuned somewhere between locked-up and Niagara.)

I was surprised at how out of breath I got after, and just as surprised at how effective simply walking improved that. Otherwise, no probs.

Hope everything goes okay,
kind regards,
Steve

Hi Steve . Thank you so much for your reply and including the link to your post about post op it was really helpful . Can I ask how long you were breathless for and is your breathing back to normal now ? Dad already gets breathless because of his heart issue and bring more breathless is a big concern of his , 

Hi,

Glad to share my experience. It was a few months for me to get back to where I was before the op. I took things easy and didn't push it as hard as I might have - I figured I didn't want to beat cancer only to give myself a heart attack. I found I only got as breathless as I needed to - eg walking on the flat was soon easy, uphill took a lot more getting used to. I started off just walking around indoors, then started increasing the number of times I could go up and down the stairs, then I was off outdoors - that took a couple of months. I've also found that it's a use-it-or-lose-it deal: if I get back to the old normal and ease back on the outdoor walks then I drop back to being out of breath again. I keep an eye on my pulse rate (got a little gadget on my wrist) and rest if it looks too high for my liking. If your Dad wasn't too active anyway then he should be back to his normal pretty soon. As ever, his doctor/consultant/surgeon will be able to advise on recovery if asked, so should be.

kind regards,
Steve

Hi the operation took around 2- half hours . I had the right upper removed.  Went into hospital on the Friday home on the Monday .  My worse time was on the Monday night when home not sure if this was because the safety net of the hospital had gone . And panic set in . They do try o have you up and walking around the following day .  But you do take so many meds home your more or less pain free. Mose of the pain is from the nerve endings . But if you keep meds going this soon goes. My operation was 8 weeks ago  as of today I’m cancer free and back to my normal self . Wish you all the best  with the operation.