thymectomy next week
 

Hello all,
I am newly diagnosed (December) and undergoing a round of plasmapheresis this week before my thymectomy next week at UNC. Any thoughts, advice, reassurance regarding surgery and post-surgery physical therapy/excercise therapy would be much appreciated....
Many thanks in advance!

Best of luck with your surgery. I had a Thymoma tumor removed in '99, sure they have some improved techniques today. Have a nice recliner to sleep in as in and out of a regular bed is challenging for the first two weeks or so. I started long walks as soon as I no longer needed the pain pills during the day. Do believe exercise helps you heal. Hope all goes well for you.
AL

Thank you for replying. A recliner sounds like a good idea!

Good luck with your surgery. I have no first hand experience - - but positive thoughts will be with you all the way!!

Surgery
 

:). My husband had a thymectomy 3 years ago. Recovery went very well I am a nurse and made him follow dr orders to the "T". He did not need to sleep in a recliner I was able to assist him gettin in and out of bed easily. I just used a towel around his back to help maneuver him.

Any advice we can give you depends on how they're doing the surgery... do you know if they're going to do the split-sternum, half-split or robotic thymectomy?

When you don't have some one to help you in and out of bed you sleep in a recliner. Hopefully your operation will be less invasive.

I used a foam wedge. A recliner is a great idea but there are other options (like having a nurse in the family look after your recovery :D )

Thank you everyone for your responses. Because of a thymoma, I am having a full sternotomy. My husband will be with me for the first 3 weeks after surgery, which will help immensely. I am hoping that part of my recovery will involve working with a physical/excercise therapist to regain some strength and some lung capacity.... I am not sure if this is a normal part of after-care, or if it falls more on a wish-list...

Have you spoken with Oncology? Are they going to want to do radiation therapy for the thymoma? or are they in a wait & see mode regarding that?

Regarding recovery from the surgery itself (mine was 2 years ago):
make good friends with your heart pillow - you will cough and if you do it without support from the pillow it will hurt (and can set back your healing.)

Get something to help you sleep at least partially upright. As bu452000 suggested, a recliner is a nice option... I used a plain foam wedge, some have suggested a similar thing to the wedge I used, but it has arms and is designed to turn your bed into a sort of a chair.

Absolutely pay attention to your weight limits. I forget the exact details, but the doctor or nurse who shows you how to use your spirometer will lay out all the details you need there. No more than 5 lbs for x amount of time... etc. BTW, a car door is more than 5 lbs; so is a mall door.

One I warn people about because it got me during a day-surgery just before my thymectomy.... make sure your anesthesiologist knows you have MG. Having the muscle relaxants they use go into you before they knock you out is very unpleasant.

I didn't have PT to help with the recovery from the thymectomy but I did well after the fact to help with recovery from complications due to the radiation therapy. It was very helpful for me. If your insurance policy will cover for it, ask your primary care physician to write a letter recommending it.

I did the full sternectomy in 2005 and then had 28 radiation treatments when they discovered a Stage II thymoma. To me, the worst thing was the grating together of the chest bones when you stand up until they knit together (makes me shudder just to think of it!) Don't mean to scare you, it was only painful for me when I went from a laying to a standing position and only lasted about 7-10 days - I just wasn't expecting it and it scared me at first!

Just do what the docs and nurses tell you as far as the recovery goes - I was out of work for 8 weeks, partly because of the radiation. I could probably have gone back at 6 weeks without that.

Good luck!

Back home after thymomo-thymectomy surgery at UNC (full sternectomy). Admitted Tuesday, Surgery was Wednesday, home on Sunday. I'm feeling much better than expected.

Great to hear! Don't let feeling better let you push yourself beyond the rules though. Heal up and keep getting better everyday :)

Thanks for the update! I am so glad everything went well for you!! Hope you continue to improve each and every day.