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My Collapsed Lung and My Horrible Surgery

 
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Just when I thought things were starting to go smoothly, my world gets turned upside down. Last night I started to feel like I was having a hard time breathing. I felt like I was wheezing and decided to wait until the next morning to see if it was getting better or worse.

Unfortunately, this morning the wheezing continued and to be safe I decided to have it checked out at CTCA. I thought perhaps I had fluid build up in my lungs. I had a history of plurel effusion, so it was possible that it would come back.

After an EKG, blood work, and X-rays the doctor found that my lung had collapsed. The air sack surrounding the lung had filled with air and causing my lung to push into my heart. The doc said it was a good thing I came into the Cancer Treatment Centers today….otherwise I could be laying on my deathbed.

In order to fix the lung collapse and help with breathing I would have to get a chest tube input. The surgery was horrible. They couldn’t put me under with anethesia because of my slow breathing so they used just a local anesthetic to numb the area. As they input the chest tube, I could feel a horrible pressure on my lung. It was such a strange feeling, but horrible it almost made me want to throw up. Essentially, the doctor was inputting a tube in between my ribs to help inflate the lung. The sensation of the lung inflating is a strange one and very uncomfortable. I will have to keep this tube in until my lung is back to normal (probably tomorrow) which means I have to sleep with this thing! I am NOT looking forward to tonight’s sleep.

http://www.themelissawaller.com/

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And I was up all night just because my body is starting to feel the aches from my training on Wednesday. Mine is such a small pain compared to yours.

Wishing you well - and restful sleep.

August 7, 2009 - 5:06pm
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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.

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