Hi everyone and thank you for your prayers! Sorry I've been so long getting this posted, haven't felt much like typing lol.I have had alot of surgery and I am not usually one to complain but this was far from the best surgical experience I have had.I am now 11 days post op and doing fairly well. I am used to alot of pain but the first 5 days were torture.They thought I had a collapsed lung 3 different times but they got an air bubble in me when they operated and I guess it was that ,that was putting the extreme pressure on my lung. I was rold the air is what caused me the extra pain but that it would absorb into my body in time. I think it is prety well gone now and it's nice to be able to breathe again. I had rib resection but I have no idea if they did anyting else. I was operated on tuseday jan,30 at 7:30 am. I was in surgery for about 2 hours and in the recovery room until 3pm .I had specifically discussed with them at my pre admission testing that I was concerned about pain control after surgery and they assured me that they take it into consideration and adjust dosage when someone has been on pain meds for a long time. I had a very rough time because what they gave me for pain was exactly what I have been taking at home for the past 2 years!! In the recovery room they gave me the fast acting small injections quite often for the first 2 hours which wasn't too bad.But when it was time for me to go to my room my room wasnt ready yet so I was in recovery an extra 2 hours longer than I should have been. The order for injections is only written for the time you are supposed to be in recovery, so when I asked for something for pain I was told they would give me something as soon as I got to my room!! Which ended up being 2 hours later. They werent even allowed to give me a drink, but if i had been in my room when i was supposed to be I would have been given pain meds and something to drink and eat.I tried my best to just put up with it all but it really was ridiculous .So by the time I finally got to my room my pain was way out of control and you all know how hard it is to catch up once that happens. The nurses were excellent but guess what, when they brought my pain medication it was a 10 mg morphine tablet which is exactly what i have been taking at home for 2 years!! So my pain was already way out of control, I had an air bubble that was causing even worse pain and they give me waht i take for everyday So the dr. I talked to at preadmission apparently did not relay my concerns to my doctor.Dr Bethune did my surgery ,but the only dr. I talked to pre op and post op was his resident doctor, dr. Murphy.I saw dr. bethune for about 1 minute before they put me out and I didnt see him before i was discharged. Dr. murphy came around once and my husband talked to him about my pain meds and the nurses did too, he told them to give me 2 tylenol with my morphine. He told the nurse they might keep me the 2nd night to watch the air bubble but I asked what to watch for and asked if i could go home. They were doing nothing to control m pain so hubby bundled me in pillows and we had a 2 hour painful drive home.I called my family doctor who adjuusted me to the right dosage and after the air bubble went away I could finally breathe again.Anytime I have had surgery thry have always given a different medication than what im on for pain control, so I dont know what was up with that. I saw my family doctor yesterday and she is quite pleased with how im doing. I had a letter they gave me when i was discharged for my family doc. so I was hoping it would say in that if they did anything besides rib resection. No one seemed to be able to tell me at the hospital but it didnt say anything in the letter either,. So I guess i hve to wait for my 6 week check up.They were supposed to call me with an appt for that this week and they didnt so i guess i have to call on monday. All in all I am doing much better now but I'm still not sure it's worth it. I am a little hopeful because when i woke up in recovery I had no pain in my arm and neck.All symptoms are back with a vengeance right now but im hoping thats just from inflamation and tissue injury from surgery. I am used to really knowing whats going on with my body so I'm not really impressed that the doctor who did my surgery didnt even talk to me.It is a teaching hospital and I had students all over me while I was in there lol, but I know they have to learn so I didnt mind.But I dont think a resident should be your only communication with your surgeon. Maybe if i had stayed the 2nd day I might have seen Dr. bethune , but I was originally only supposed to stay 1 night so it looks like he doesn't come around at all. I debated whether to post some of this because I don't want to scare the girl who is on dr. bethunes waiting list. But I thought it was important for her to know so she can make sure she addresses any of these isssues with them at the hospital. My care was good but communication seems to be a real problem there. Well I am beat from typing lol, and you are probably all bored stiff so I'll shut up now . Thanks for listening, cindy