Hi,

nice to hear from you sorry about your head!!
I was five to 6 mths post op when I went to physio and my lungs were certainly on the mend but not 100% yet but they were better for sure.....keep doing deep breathing yoga breathing is good three part breath going in to your abdomen...it rises then to your mid chest...ribs rise...then to upper part (the worst!!!!!) top ribs....you can put your hands on these areas to feel the breath going there takes a while to get used to it....check out some yoga sites...don't have one to recommend I use dvd's to learn it and a class so now know it....

As for physio you should be doing some by now....GENTLE only and stretching...no treadmill or theraband......both very bad for me in physio.....brought all my symptoms back...I had bad physio...so no is better than bad for sure......but you need to keep stretching and doing as much as you can at home....Lord knows with a baby you will likley be doing all the stretching and more....lifting is an issue I hope the baby is way lesss than the 5lbs you should mimimally be lifting......( I hope and pray the babe is not!!!) but point being you should not lift much it could cause more damage than good right now as you go into the final stages of healing muscles and ligaments......scar tissue is now my worst enemy.

hope some of this helps...
feel free to contact me if you need to
love and hugs

love and hugs to everyone else hope your day is better than mine has been with comp calling me with more WONDERFUL news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

take care and again Happy Fourth to all,
Victoria
gibbrn@hotmail.com

Dabbo, truly I am glad you had a good time and as far as the inconvenience at the moment now just think of the end result as long as the cupboards are in boxes think of them as new end tables to prop your feet up on and place one of those coors on ! My Alcohol days stopped when I started taking narcotics... Uncle Jack and I at one time were on a first name basis !

Cindy, one of my neurologists (i have 2 and a neurosurgeon) has given me Topmax for my migraines and it took a while to get the dosage up to where it works, but I used to be bothered by loud noises and bright lights, now the sunglasses are just used for sunny days Wish I could help expand with your breathing maybe somebody will come along and share what helped in their case

Peg... it is always nice having you around and have to say personally your input is valued, please do not be a stranger and look forward to seeing you again hope everything in your life is getting back to normal and will add a little extra in tonights pryers for you !!!

Unto all my best !!!

Mark~n~Goober

I just wanted to jump in and say I hope that headache is better, but more importantly how's your breathing today? If you really are feeling as though you aren't getting enough of a breath, you may not be. If it is even a tiny issue, I would at least touch base with your primary care physician, the one who referred you for surgery and let him/her know about this. Even over a holiday there should be an MD or an Advanced Practice nurse on call for him/her.

Did you have an incentive spirometry in the hosp. where you drew in as much air as possible, so that you could increase the efficiency of your lungs? Did you do alot of coughing and deep breathing? Did anyone help you cough by putting a pillow up against your abdomen to help guard your abdomen/ribcage from pain? All this should (or at least 4 yrs. ago this was the case) have been started within the first day or so post op, and from reading your post and having a partial lung collapse, I bet you did use these things. If you still have the spirometry (alot of people go home with them).. That's a useful tool to keep your lungs open and all those teeny little air sacs healthy and oxygenated which is important.

And, like Jo, I'm not speaking from personal experience, only nursing exp. I'm sure the other people who have had surgery can help you with this. Do keep us posted. phoebe

today i am confused because i wrote a post to cindy a few days ago, don't know why it isn't here???
cindy- PT is all important to me, but good pt is the only kind worth having. The help with range of motion and general awareness of my limitis and how to gently push them is key.

Mark- you and I are on the same surgery wavelength as I am having right sided rib resction July 23 hopefully it is a good week for surgery karma.

hello to you all, victoria nice to see you around some!

Johanna

Today Iwonder where Dabbo and Edelweiss have been hiding, it is not like the 2 of you not to even stop by even just to say hello... truly hope both of you are well !!!!

Hope Cindy's migraine have let up somewhat... so that she can enjoy her time with her little one !

Victoria, how is going with that new medication ??? Is your body getting acclamated to the side effects? From the way you make it sound, if you can get over that hump, the benefits gained in releif are well worth the trial and open up new doors in the treatment of the BEAST "TOS"!!!

PBJ... your opinions here as well as on the old forum are always welcome as you come by not only talking from personal experience, but also from professional knowledge!

Johanna... I hear the blare of the trumpets, pounding of the drums and the plucking on the strings of the harps... wishing us both well in our up coming procedures! Not only that, I have faith in our maker that everything will be fine.

In closing, I just want to share my hope and prayer as always that everyone afflicted with TOS and RSD a day free of pain and better day tomorrow !!!!

Mark~n~GOOBER

Haven't been on or posting much- managed to get some puter virus while hooked to my aunts laptop trying to fix it for her. Learned that lesson...big boo boo.

Darn antivirus pgm didn't stop it and I couldn't open it to scan after my PC started acting up!

So I got frustrated and wiped my hardrive - reinstalled XP and Ubuntu linux- so I can use one or the other.
But starting over from scratch and setting up mine profile, hubbys profile and family profile takes a long time.
We all hate the default XP stuff- like the classic look better

plus spent a day at aunts setting up her new laptop and we kept scanning the old one to try to clean it since her photos and family tree & documents are on it yet.

Jo that sounds like a real pain in the place where the sun does not shine...

I am having a few issues with the med still....thanks for asking...huge adjustment issues.....can't quite get used to it and still sleep a lot and of feeling stoned and paranoid....can't take the much needed diazepam or my nortriptyline near it either or I go comatose!!! Not literally......I get more side effects.....

So no decision as to keep or drop it yet I will still take it at night...but I was trying to go into the day time dose but it is very difficult. I will keep trying....

Hope all are well and having as much of a pain free day a possible.

Love and Hugs,
Victoria

just jump im to say hello to my dear TOS friends and I hope that pain (any pain TOS, migrain,.....) and problems are low today.

Since yesterday I am back at work and I started moderated and without stress. There are only 3 weeks until I will go to the rehabilitation center to train my shoulder.

I wish you all a very good and happy day today!
Barbara

I've been doing more "lurking" as of late. I hope everyone who has an upcoming procedure/hearing/whatever has a favorable outcome!
Victoria - I hope that you can adjust to that medication, esp. if its helping.
Jo- arghhhhhhhhh.. dang computers! can't live without em, and they can be a pain to get fixed!
Mark - me and any alchohol only meet once in a blue moon now. Thats a far cry from my college/post-college days (hello mr. daniels and mr. beam...).. no way I would drink while taking pain meds. So i hardly ever drink. But that 36-pack for $17.99 was WAY too cheap to pass up- thankfully there were 5 others to take care of it!

Father-in-law and I managed to get the cabinets installed, sink hooked up, countertops in, etc in 2 days last week. I was super careful about how I moved, what I did, etc, so I made it through that with a "normal" flare - not the worst i've had, but. That surprised me- I thought I would be off the charts (in case you can't tell, I'm stubborn - no way I was going to pay someone $1500 or $2000 to install those cabinets). anyways.....

hope y'all are having a (relatively) pain-free day.