Struggling with recovery

Hi Warwound, welcome to the group, but sorry you find yourself here. 

So good to hear that the cancer was removed by surgery, and that the chemo is nearly completed with little side effects. You must be feeling extremely relieved that it is nearly your last cycle. 

Muscle strain can be very painful, especially if it has happened soon after surgery. I can imagine how frustrating this must be for you, but sorry I can't think of anything that will speed up recovery. 

Good luck with the last chemo. and I hope the inflammation eases soon for you x 

Hi and thanks for replying.

I had a telephone appointment with my GP yesterday to review my case.
She asked how I was feeling - I told her exactly how awful I was feeling.
Straightaway she said she wanted to examine me and made an appointment for me to see her tomorrow.

She said if she finds anything untoward then she wll refer me to a respiratory specialist at the local hospital.
I immediately felt a massive relief - at last someone is going to look into my troublesome recovery.

I'll update this thread after my appointment tomorrow.

That is great news warwound, sometimes you just need that someone to look out for you. Sounds like you have a good GP there. Please let us know how you get on x 

I visited my doctor yesterday, she examined me (including using a stethoscope) and said she found nothing obviously wrong.
We had a long chat where I told her how I'd changed my evening routine from Wednesday...

I've noticed that even if my chest felt OK at the start of an evening, by the end of the evening my chest would always be more inflamed than it was at the start.
My evenings usually consist of me sitting in a reasonably comfortable single settee chair from say 6pm til 10pm, I watch TV or listen to music and then head to bed.

So on Wednesday evening I put some music on and then every 15 or 20 minutes I'd stand up, stretch and have a little 'stroll' around my lounge/dining area.
10pm came and my chest felt OK, it hadn't got more inflamed as it usually does.
I went to bed and when I woke up, found my chest was still OK and I was breathing much more easily than I had done for quite a while.
Thursday was probably the best day I'd had for many weeks!

I repeated this 'evening exercise' on Thursday evening and got much the same result as on Wednesday.

Friday I had to drive into town to my doctor's, this involved parking at my parents' and walking a fair distance to the GP's surgery then walking back to my parents' and finally driving home.
Friday evening I tried the evening exercise again, the results weren't as good as the previous two evenings, presumably because of the driving and walking I'd done.

Today, thanks to storm Arwen, I am staying home all day.
Been busy pottering around my house doing little tasks and this evening I'll repeat the evening exercise.
Hopefully I'll climb into bed with my chest in an OK state and wake up with it in an OK state.

So, at last, I have some hope.
Sitting for any lengthy period is enough to cause chest inflammation, breaking the lengthy period into many shorter periods makes a world of difference.

My doctor listened to all of this and decided to refer me to the physiotherapist and also the respiratory specialist at the local hospital.
It'll probably be a ~6 week wait for appointments at the local hospital.
She also prescribed me a 6 day course of anti-biotics as I had some phlegm on my chest Thursday night.
I wonder if my 4th cycle of chemo will have to be delayed now that I'm on a course of anti-biotics?

I shall continue with my evening exercise and hope that, day by day, my chest inflammation reduces and finally goes.
If that happens, and I continue with my evening exercise, then I hope the inflammation will not return.

I'll update this thread next week with the results of my ongoing evening exercise.

I have found Ibuprofen has helped me, against inflamation of my Lung, as I could not take the Steroid Prednisolone, which they put me on when I acquired Radiation Pnumonitis, Ibuprofen is a COX 2. Inihibiter but is also  a COX 1 Inhibiter, COX 1 inhibition is not good for the gut, so should you take Ibuprofen at a more than normal dosage,  speak to your doctor, he should prescribe you Lansoprazole, to alleviate COX 1 inhibition.

It is worth researching COX 2 Inhibiter and Cancer, it is very interesting reading and has worked for me keeping my inflamation at bay.

And think it may have gone towards me getting a recent NED Scan.

There are very few things to stop inflammation of the Lung.

As you have been on Chemo you could ask for a selective COX 2 Inhibiter to stop inflamation, there is a prescribed drug called Celecoxib.

Worth asking your doctor it may alleviate your problems.

All the best in your endeavours.

Ibuprofen and Celecoxib and others such as Diclofenic and many more are all NSAID anti inflammatory type drugs,  Nsaid( non Steroidal anti inflammatory agents).

Hi BGJ and thanks for all that useful info.

I decided to switch from 2 x 500mg paracetamol 3 times a day to 1 x 400mg Ibuprofen 3 times a day.
I have also continued to avoid sitting in any position for any prolonged amount of time.
If I'm sitting then I make sure that I stand and stretch every 20 or 30 minutes.

The results are good...
For the first time in 12 weeks my chest inflammation has slowly gone down and remained down.
I still have some sensitive areas - around my right breast and under my right arm but these too are slowly starting to get better.

Yesterday I purchased a new sofa which has an incredibly comfortable sitting position, it supports me perfectly.
My old sofa had an awful sitting position, it's impossible not to slouch in it and that instantly puts pressure on my chest and causes inflammation.
The new sofa will be delivered this Thursday.

I saw the respiratory specialist at the local hospital a week or so back and he said there was nothing 'wrong' with me, it was just that recovery was taking a long time.
I'm still awaiting an appointment with a physiotherapist.

So all in all I now have hope and feel that I'll recover sooner rather than later.

 

Hi warwound, I am glad to see that the medication is working better for you. Enjoy the new sofa