Thanks so much for all the info. I guess when I read your first post post op I got a tad bit nervous. I thought maybe I should back out of this and just live with it. But I can't. I hope that I don't have to go through what you did, I am very vocal so you can guarantee that they will hear me if I am in pain. I don't want to live with this TOS pain the rest of my life. If there is a chance it will be gone I have to try it. I have heard Dr Bethune is excellent as this. What about you? Can you feel any improvement with your TOS pain? I will be calling them again. Everytime I call they say I don't have any time available yet. Hope your healing stays on track adn you are feeling bette soon.
Rach

Hi rachael,I didnt want to scare you hun but I also thought it was important for you to know about my experience. I have heard alot of good things about dr.bethune and as a surgeon I think you are in good hands. I have alot of other health troubles so I don't know if they are having anything to do with how im feeling. I am now 2 1/2 weeks post op and I am having a rough week.This past week I seem to have gone backward instead of making any progress.Last week I felt better than this week.I have had a few nights with very little sleep so I know that hasnt helped.I was so tired last night, i feel asleep in the recliner at 1 am and slept until 1 pm. But i think that was too long without moving because I have felt worse ever since.The only thing that seems to help is the bath tub.I try to move all of my muscles while in the tub as t is easier to move in water. I don't think there is any possible way to know if the surgery helped yet. I usually heal quite uickly from surgery but I can see this is going to be a very long recovery. My breathing got better last week but the last 3 days it has been harder again. I try to make myself do deep breathing several times a day no matter how much it hurts.But I am wondering if you can actually over do it by deep breathing too much?? Myhubby and 1 son have had a bit of a flu bug and I am thinking I might have a touch of that.I hope thats what is making me so wiped out and sore and that it goes away soon so I can get back to making some progress. I would love to hear from some of you who have had this surgery so I know if it is normal to still be so weak and hurting so badly after 2 1/2 weeks?? My pain has switched around alot in ythe past 3 days.It had gone to the top of my lung for a few days and then today i woke up to have it feeling like knives being jabbed through my shoulder blade and the bottom of my lung. Just having a bath today felt like I had done 10 hours of physical labour. I was very shaky and and felt really weak and sick when i got out. I don't know if this is normal as most surgries I have had by 2 weeks I could see improvement every day. I think if the bottom of my lung continues to feel like ths I might have to go get checked out to make sure I dont have fluid in my lung. I hate complaining to anyone lol, so I am glad I can come here and just say how I feel to people who understand. Thanks for listening all ,I will keep you all in my daily prayers cindy

cindy, can you have your GP look at you to check your lungs?

4 days after my right rib resection, after discharge from P/SL, I got fluid building up in my pleural space. I had to get it drained twice, landed back in the hosp for 10 more days. What you describe is how I felt trying to recover from that lung event. Terribly weak, knives, pain, aches, was running a feever in the hospital. It took a good 2 months before I felt remotely human again.

Honey, I'd get a dr to check you out. Praying for you to feel better soon!

Anne

Well astern I sure understand alll that you went thru hun!! I did go to emergency last sunday night as I couldnt breathe and my pain was exruciating.I knew it was not pain from my suregery and that soemhing was very wrong.The doc there looked at my xrays about 3o times(i could even see that my left lung was 2/3 covered by fluid) and then said you have some fluid build up ,just leave it and it will go away.he also tried to tell me there was no way the fluid was causing my extra pain...sigh.....some docs will not just say "i dont know".They wuld rather save face , tell you is nothing and send u home.He did tell me to get another xray done on wednesday and to see my family doc the next week.Well by wednesday i was very sick.I went for the xray an the xray technician took me right to the doc on call. This doctor was quite alarmed by the amount of fluid and after 4 hours and him calling in alot of favours he was able to get me admited at the hospital(2 hours away) where my rib resection was done.I arrived at the hospital at 8 pm and at 9pm they put a chest tube in to drain the fluid. They had 1 litre in less than a minte so they had to clamp it off and allow it to drain more slowly.Within 24 hours they drained 2 and 1/2 litres from my chest. They did this procedure right in my room at the hospital!!! I couldnt believe it! My poor hubby was so scared, and I will admit ,so was I. But at that point i just wanted them to do whatever they had to in order to bring me some relief and allow me to breathe gain. I thank you very much astern for posting about this complication. I at least had a pretty good idea of what was happening and what they would do to fix it from the info in your post.They called it a severe full blown pleural effusion.It collapsed my lung.I was in the hospital for 2 more days and just got home last night.I am very weak and tired and can only stay at anything abut 1/2 hour, so im just about out of energy with this post.My blood pressure is still an issue as it has not come back up to where it should be et.I always run low, but the llast time they checked it before i came home it was 78/38..eek..! They said it was because i lost so much fluid so fast.So because it is so low my energy level is non existaent lol.** sory my computer froze up before i could finish this post the other night lol**.

Cindy, I'm totally blown away that the Dr didn't admit you on Sunday. Incredible (and not in a good way). You're right, it's like with some Dr's they think if they say "I don't know" their heads might explode.

You need lots of rest now, but it's also important for you to build your strength back. Walk around the house as much as you can, do your breathing exercises (they sent you home with a spirometer?) and any inhaler meds you may have been given. Do drink plenty of water!

Keeping you in my prayers,
Anne

I am blown away by this. Cindy, I hope you give yourself credit for having the wits about you to post your symptoms when you were in trouble; your "knower" knew something was seriously wrong and the love you have for yourself made you reach out.

And it was our Anne who caught you, with her vigilance, her love and her own painful experience arming you with the information you so urgently needed. That is awesome to me.

Now, is it just because I am from the U.S. that on the flip side I find myself having to perish some litigious thoughts against that first ER doc? Pray tell! (Or at least, tell on him!!!)

Alison

hI and yes I am sooo very thankful to anne for replying to my post so quickly!!! I have been in and out of hospitals way too much to trust the dr.s when my body is telling me otherwise. I am just glad the 2nd time around I got a good dr. and he made things happen very quickly for me! Doctors are human like the rest of us and are bound to make mistakes.I just wish they could get over their egos and say "i dont know" when they dont have a clue.I did make sure that the hospital knew about the doc sending me home, so I am sure he will be brought up to speed on my case lol. They are a teaching hospital so things like this are a good lesson for them(even though it sucked for me lol).
I am feeling stronger now, and have been doing my breathing exercises and trying to walk as much as I can.I am taking my inhalers and drinking tons of fluid, so I hope this is the end of the complications and I can get back on the road to recovery. My surgeon said he has never had anyone have this complication after rib resection so I was able to tell him about anne and he was glad that there was a place for patients to talk to each ohter.Again anne I thank you so much hun, who knows where I would be without you!!Your post was exactly what i needed when i needed it and I pray God will shower you with blessings for reaching out through love to help others.A great big (((((HUG))))) of thanks ,anne , from my whole family!!! I will continue to keep you all in my daily prayers. I am sooo thankful that God led me to find you all!! love cindy

Cindy I can;t believe that you had the problem with your lungs. Often I say to do the breathing as my daughter had a pnuemonia problem but never thought that so many on our forum would have the fluid in the plural or such side effects.

I am glad that you had a doctor to finally treat you and you are on the mend, but I never would have wished anything so painful for my friends, I hope and pray that it is resloved totally soon and healing from the sugery is on the way.
I also am so glad that God lead you here, you are a very special friend.
Many hugs and prayers,
Di

Hi all, sorry I havent been around much.I had yet another complication and have been living in hell for 6 weeks now. I hope this is the last of it so I can finally get on the road to recovery. The good news is the pleural effusion did not come back, the bad news I now have pneumonia.Actually to make matters worse hubby (who has been taking care of me around the clock)has pneumonia too.2 weeks ago today hubby got sick, fever,chills coughing.He hardly ever gets sick so when he does its a bad one.Friday morning I woke up stretched out in the recliner and I coughed uite violently.I coughed so hard I blew a disc in my back!! It was pure agony!!! I couldnt move at all. I stayed locked in a spasm for over a week. Anyway I also knew i was running a fever and started coughing up crap.Theses were the 2 things I was told to watch out for.So I knew had to go to the hospital .It took over 2 hours for my son to get me a short distance to the car.It was utter agony, even worse than the 1st day of surgery! I was at the hospital all day and was very thankful my own family doc was the one on call.It took them about 30 minutes to get me upright enough for a chest xray.Sure enough, pneumonia.So while I was getting this done my son was telling our dr. how ill my hubby was.She told us to send him in as soon as we got home. She injected me full of demerol to try to make getting me back home a little easier. Of course we were in the middle of a major snow storm too and all i had on was my pjs, a housecoat and slippers.I couldnt move enough to get dressed. So after 4 hours at the hospital my son managed to get me bacck home.The poor kid hasnt seen me cry much and everytime I coughed or tried to move the tears flew.It took him another hour to get me in the house from the car.Yesterday was the 1st day I could get up and walk to the washroom.I had only been able to slide sideways onto a bucket for over a week(doesnt get more humiliating than that) My back was actually worse than all the body aches and hurting lungs from pneumonia. Now that my back is finally healing a little,i am just starting to feel the effects of the pneumonia.The antibiotics made me very sick but i think they are finally kicking in today!Hubby is finally feeling a little better today too thank you God!! I almost lost him to pneumomia 7 years ago so it was very scary to go thru it again especially when i couldnt do a thing for him. I slept in my bed for the first time last night!! Almost 6 weeks in a recliner ..ugh...my bed felt so good!! I will say to anybody out there that is having surgery , do yourself a favour, and make sure you have a recliner! This was the greatest tip I picked up here!!I honestly dont know what I would have done without it! But I am soooo happy to be back in my bed finally! So I am still moving very slowly and cautiously with my back,I know 1 wrong move and I will be crippled again.i was supposed to have my 6 week check up with my surgeon today but had to cancel as its a 2 hour drive and im not risking my back to get there.Also hubby has to drive me and he is not feeling ell enough to do that yet. My family doc did give me some good news about my surgery though!! She finally had the OR report and it said I had a large tight baand of muscle over my collarbone area that they removed.She said this was a major cause of alot of my pain!So I am very hopeful that even after all of these complications , I should get alot of relief from the surgery!! I will post again after I get to see my surgeon for my check up.I will stop boring you to tears now lol and thank you all once again for all of your help!! (((((((((hugs)))))))) to all of you, cindy

Oh Cindy - I'm so sorry to hear what all you've been going through- it does sound like pure hell. It seems like when it rains it pours. I hope you and your husband are much better soon!