Lung Hyperinflated
I had Bilateral Lung Volume Reduction. Only problem was lungs were so over-inflated that surgeon had to remove little pieces of lungs stuck to chest wall, piece by piece. This was endoscopic surgery and it turned a 2 hour procedure into a 4 hour one. He told my family that had he realized they were in such a way, he would not have done the procedure at all. I attribute the over-inflation from the fact that I continued to work too long, in a very physical job. Good luck to you if you have LVR.
What an experience you had! Thank goodness you were able to sleep through it and that the Surgeon continued on. How are you feeling afterward? Has it given you any relief? May your recovery be a fast one. Best to you,
This was about 5 and 1/2 years ago now. I fear all the problems left me worse off than before the surgery...esp considering you have to be in your best shape to even qualify for LVRS, but that was an exception, hopefully. I am in stage 4 now, everything is very difficult and my days are not predictable. But I push on and try to stay as healthy as I can. Thanks for your interest and kind words. Thank you for sharing your story, hopefully it will help someone along the way. I too am stage 4 and now fighting stage 3a lung cancer so I very much understand the day not being predictable, but we are tough individuals, this shows us how tough we can be when put to the test and so far we have passed the test. To me that is a WIN for all of us! Keep pushing on...............
10 days in hosp turned into 35 days, with 2 or 3 times in ICU. Just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for me. Including 2 pulmonary embolisms found. Severe infection was contracted that turned into solid material in my lungs (an ipanema or something like that.) It was not a good outcome for me, it did not take 5 to 10 years off the course of my disease...if anything, it advanced it. And you have to be in picque health
for you, before they will agree to do it. I will say I know this surgery works well for some, but be sure to ask lots and lots of questions before agreeing to it. Do not let them rush you into anything.thanks for sharing your story and advice, hopefully it will be useful to many in time. Wish you the best !
Oh yeah and let's not forget that I had crepitus (subcutaneous emphysema), air escaping from lungs into bodily tissue; I puffed up like a pufferfish and had interns cut me and nurses knead flesh to help air to to release from my body. Was the strangest thing.
