Surgery v chemoradiation

Hello Solo19,

I'm sorry to hear you are still having difficulty deciding between pneumonectomy or chemo radiation. My own preference based on my successful (so far) right pneumonectomy 10.5 years ago would still be surgery. If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask about my experience just ask and I'll give you a straight answer if that would be useful for you.

I hope you're soon able to decide on the best course of treatment for you.

Derek.

• Hi Derek, Thank you,it seems to be a long journey and I don’t seem to of got very far, if I go for surgery it will be done by RATS although he said he may have to change to open surgery, either way I will be in for at 5 days, I think it’s the thought of how well I would be able to function on one lung, although I’m guessing there is lots of physio, can I ask how difficult is the after care and recovery to cope with 

Good morning Solo19,

To answer your questions:

1. I had my right lung removed, it looks like your left lung is the subject here? The right lung has 3 lobes and left has 2 so the right makes a greater contribution to total lung function. Breathing is obviously more restricted, especially at first but I was told the remaining lung will expend to make up some of the shortfall. I soon became used to it and it doesn't interfere with normal activities, although I was never a runner! I resumed playing golf after a while and can walk long distances easily.

2. My surgeon told me he would attempt RATS but had to resort to open surgery which I expected from the way he talked about it beforehand. I don't really think it makes much difference anyway in the scheme of things.

3. I had surgery on Tuesday 10/6/14 and was discharged 5 days later. I would have been home a day earlier but had to go into surgery a second time because of suspected internal bleeding which turned out to be a false alarm anyway.

4. I was sent home with painkillers to take as required and used these for several days until I was able to phase them out. At first I had to sleep upright supported by pillows as it was too uncomfortable to lay down - some people find it easier to buy an orthopaedic V pillow for this. When I was able to lay down I had to sleep on my left for a while.

5. There wasn't much physio provided, other than prior to discharge instruction on arm and upper body exercises. The main recovery exercise was walking which started as soon as I was out of bed after the op. When home short distances were difficult and stairs even more so at first but soon improved. I had to to slowly build up on distance and this soon became easier - I started adjuvant chemo on 25/7/14 and  was walking 6 miles a day well before then. 

6. Overall I have to say after care and recovery were fairly easy to cope with (with a little patience).

I find it fairly normal to function on one lung and it doesn't have any detrimental effect on my life at all.

Hope this is useful, anything else just ask.

Derek.

Good Morning Derek, 

think you for your reply, it has made me feel a lot  easier, to know you’ve been through it and come out the other side , yes it is my left lung, like you I’m no runner but have been trying to increase my exercise in preparation for surgery, it looks like the  RATS/Open procedure and timeline I’ve been given is the same as what you had, it’s a comfort to know recovery is doable with  patience (something I need to learn) thanks for the information it’s been really helpful 

Lesley 

Thank you Lesley, I hope your procedure is at least as successful as mine was.

All the best,

Derek.