Video Blogging my Upcoming Lung Surgery

On Feb 2, 2010 I will be having an open thoracotomy and pleurectomy for my recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax.

I have been unable to find much of anything along the lines of personal experience about to day-to-day immediate and long term post-op living (aside from this forum), so I'm video blogging my surgery/recovery. Its purpose is to (1) motivate me and (2)provide a resource for others going through this or other major surgeries with a personal, day-to-day account of pre-surgery/recovery experiences. Here's the link:

http://brainchocolateblog.com

I'll be talking about everything from diet and physical activity to motivation and entertainment. I also have a 30 minute video Q&A with my surgeon. He's one of Portland Monthly's "Top Doctors of 2010" and the only thoracic surgeon for 500,000+ members of Kaiser Permanente in the northwest.

It would be cool to have people from here following along and giving their input since the experiences around SPs are so varied. I've been the forums quite a bit for the last few years (though I had to re-join after the awesome redesign). The more people that participate the better it will be--a local newspaper is doing a story on my video blog so hopefully it will be of use to more people. There's a place to sign up for email updates if you're interested at the top of my page.

I had VATS with mechanical pleurodesis/stapled blebs 3 years ago and it partially worked--enough to keep my few recurrences to about 20%.

I'd really love to hear from as many people as possible whether it's on this forum or on my video blog, so feel free to reply. Here are some questions I have:

1. What surgery did you have? What was the hardest part of recovery and how did you deal with it?

2. How much physical activity did you get in the first week and the second week after surgery? What effect did this have on your healing/how you felt mentally?

3. What kinds of things did you do to keep your mind occupied during healing? (last time I didn't do much of anything but sit there and I think that added a lot to how hard recovery was)

4. How do you differentiate between natural healing pain vs. pain that might actually be doing some damage? (My surgeon and pulmonologist say that if you stick to the limitations they give you, no activity should be doing harm. It feels like this might not be the case to the patient after surgery, so I'd like to know what you say to remind yourself of this.)

5. Opiate induced constipation sucks...a lot...I had hernia surgery as a result after my VATS. How did you deal with this?
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Nathan Schmitt
Http://brainchocolateblog.com

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:37 am Post subject:

Also, the Portland Tribune, a major local newspaper just ran a story about my video blog. Again, I would love to hear what you guys have to say on the blog.

Here's the story: http://bit.ly/aAaVXT
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Nathan Schmitt
Http://brainchocolateblog.com

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:24 am Post subject:

This is superb, thanks for putting the time in and making a very personal and scary journy accessible to others. We all wish you the best for the second op. I had the same procedure a few years back, wish I had a surgeon as informative as yours!

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:58 pm Post subject:

How long was the initial really bad part of recovery for you? Also, how long after surgery did you start using your surgery-side arm and what kinds of things could you do in terms of activity? (e.g. walking, getting out of bed, talking full voice, etc)

It sounds like a thoracotomy/pleurectomy is more painful than the VATS/pleurodesis I had before, and even that was pretty ridiculous (they forgot to give me pain meds for 3 hours after surgery). I was way too unmotivated last time so I'd really like to hear your experiences with recovery. It helps to know how much other people were able to do at certain time intervals after surgery.
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Nathan Schmitt
Http://brainchocolateblog.com

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:10 pm Post subject:

I just joined this forum, but I remember you from the other one that isn't up anymore. I am absolutely going to check out your blog! Too late for me to offer much advice, but I will tell you that I, personally, should have gotten moving much sooner. And definitely use that breathing thing they give you after the surgery -- no one told me how important that was!

Many good thoughts coming your way for tomorrow!! We'll be waiting to hear from you!

Mackie
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41F, VATS w/mechanical pleurodesis and parietal/visceral pleurectomy-Sept. '08

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:47 pm Post subject:

Hi again....Just wanted to let you know that I can't access your blog. It says I need to log in...??
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41F, VATS w/mechanical pleurodesis and parietal/visceral pleurectomy-Sept. '08

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:02 am Post subject:

Hmm... that's odd, i just tried it and there shouldn't be a log in. try both of the following links:

http://brainchocolate.org
http://brainchocolateblog.com
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Nathan Schmitt
Http://brainchocolateblog.com

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:12 am Post subject:

Nope....apparently my computer "doesn't have permission to view the webpage"....What's that about?? Ugh, I hate technology....Anyway, don't worry about it -- good luck tomorrow!!
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41F, VATS w/mechanical pleurodesis and parietal/visceral pleurectomy-Sept. '08

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:24 am Post subject:

Oh i wish i had time to figure that out. If you're interested here's where all my videos are posted. I always write some stuff with it too to give it context and add content, but the videos are up there as well as a 30 minute Q&A with my surgeon:

http://www.viddler.com/NPSchmitt/videos/
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Nathan Schmitt
Http://brainchocolateblog.com

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:28 am Post subject:

No sweat -- I'm going to try again from work tomorrow. I'll be thinking about you!
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41F, VATS w/mechanical pleurodesis and parietal/visceral pleurectomy-Sept. '08

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:16 pm Post subject:

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:18 am Post subject:

Just got home 7 days after having my thoracoyomy/pleurectomy and it went well. Thanks to the epidural it wasn't as painful as it could have been. I'm up and walking a lot--just got back from walking about 4 blocks outside, half of which were on a pretty steep incline. Increasing in distance and duration everyday, yesterday I walked a total of ~0.85 miles, and that's 6 days after a thoracotomy and without an epidural so I think I'm doing pretty well.

If you haven't yet, check out the video blog i'm doing of my recovery, there's quite a bit of hospital footage up now, and more to be up tomorrow: http://brainchocolateblog.com
_________________
Nathan Schmitt
Http://brainchocolateblog.com

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:35 am Post subject:

New Member Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 5

I read the full blog a couple of times before my VATS pleurectomy last week and then contacted Nathan via email on a couple of issues. He was a great help and replied, including additional tips for things to bring to the hospital and checklists for your family on the day of the op.

The blog really helped me through the surgery preparation and the aftermath. Instead of staying in bed feeling sorry for myself I was up walking around the hospital on day 2 and by day 4 I was off all opiates and doing 15 minute walks 3-4 times a day.

For anyone who has upcoming surgery my best advice would be to check out Nathan's blog, blebinfo and some of the faceboook pages. The more informed you are the less anxious you will be and the quicker your recovery will be.