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First Lung Surgery

I had my operation on the 28th March as scheduled. It was my grandads birthday too so I felt that was a good sign.

I went down to surgery at 3pm and came back around 6:30pm to my room.

The surgeon explained that the surgery was a little more complicated than they expected as it was my diaphragm that had holes in it and not my lung. My lung was perfect. So I had a VATS, right thoracotomy, plication of diaphragm and pleurodesis.

I was discharged on Saturday 31st March and came home and slept lots in the afternoon! I went to bed and woke up in the night twice 3am and 6am then 10am got up. I was in absolute agony. I really didn’t feel good at all. They changed my meds back to Tramadol as that seems to be helping manage the pain better.

I went for two walks today amounting to 2.02 miles just under an hour in total. I felt good for getting out in the fresh air. My breathing exercises on the Spiroball were 2000ml at its highest so again an improvement. I have been signed off for 4 weeks so will work on healing wounds, exercising and increasing my lung capacity as much as possible.

I’ll keep you updated.

LBH x








So today I woke up feeling a bit better this morning. I only woke once in the night 4am ish which was much better than the night before.

I got up fairly early and had breakfast and showered. NBH blow dried my hair (bless him) he has never done that before it was quite funny. I had a nap just after lunch then we went for a long walk. We walked down a long track near us and back up past the school. It was a bit muddy and slippery by the park but we made it!

I read my magazines and book in the afternoon and received a lovely delivery from my aunt and uncle of some books to get me through my recovery! I can’t wait to get stuck in.

My mum takes over nurse duties tomorrow for a few days when NBH goes back to work. I’ll miss him lots. I’ll keep you posted on my recovery!

LBH x


Today I woke up three times in the night (I thought I’d made progress the night before). Mum came to look after me and let herself in. I was in so much pain I couldn’t move. I tried Alexa to see if she could turn lights on or off to get mums attention and turned on the radio but the lights didn’t work and mum was busy making my breakfast so it didn’t work. Bless her she came up on a tray with my oats and my blueberries and banana. So sweet.

Ruth came to visit me at 10:30am and we went for a walk which was lovely. Mum made me lunch and I tried to catch up with my book.

Mum and I went for a walk that’s two walks in one day!! It was sunny but windy. 4.52 miles All in all it was a good day and my breathing Spiro ball progress was nearly 2500ml. One day at a time! LBH x


I slept all the way through the night! Whoop whoop! Small mercies. I woke up very stiff and sore though. I got up just before 8am and got myself ready before mum came over.

We went for a walk to avoid showers just over 3 miles in one go so it was an improvement on yesterday’s walk

Jan and Katie came to visit with some beautiful tulips it was nice to see them and to catch up. I felt absolutely shattered after our walk. I managed to stay awake through two films Tammy and Hampstead (I’ve watched it once before but mum wanted to see it).

Pain felt worse today hopefully that’s just the healing. The emphysema seems to have got a bit better with less air around the wound which is good. I’ll keep you up to date tomorrow with my recovery journey

LBH x


I managed to sleep through the night again (yay!) woke up stiff and sore hip lower back. I heard mum come in and came downstairs.

Mum made me lovely oats and blueberries with chia and banana. We went for a drive into Wallington got a coffee (Nero now do oat milk!! Yay) and took it to nail place to get a pedicure which was a lovely pamper to do together.

We wandered through the shops but I had forgotten to take my tablet so I tried to persevere without but was in quite a bit of pain so struggled picking things up etc.

We then went home and had lunch and then went for a walk to the local garden centre and back. We had a drink there and a wander around.

The skies were so beautifully blue and it was really quite warm. I managed just over 3 miles and got 2500ml and a bit over on my spiroball. Still feeling sore and achy. My middle dressing came off last night and I could see the big black stitch it’s itchy now but healed really flat and well. I have my surgeon follow up appointment next Tuesday and seeing the nurse to take my stitch out. NBH is home with me tomorrow it almost feels like a Friday night! Ha ha

LBH x


Today NBH was at home with me! The sun was shining like a perfect spring day NBH did an amazing job of refreshing our grey decking and cleaning and repainting it. He mowed the lawn and did the weeding and it looks much better now. I watched two movies on Amazon prime one with Angelina Jolie and the other Jennifer Anniston. We walked to the local garden centre and bought some solar copper lights for our grey decking area for the spring/summer and had a drink in the sunshine. We walked 3.14 miles. NBH made a delicious sausage curry type dish and we relaxed and went to bed early so that I could read and rest.

My Spiroball was 2500ml and sometimes reached 3000ml! So that’s good.

Still struggled with pain this afternoon when I forgot my tablets

LBH x


We woke up today just after 8am!

NBH was in a bad mood so I felt like a bit of a burden, he is struggling a bit with me being ill and having to try to do things in the house and look after me too. It is a lot on him.

I felt a bit stressed today and then the pain has been worse too and especially around the stitch area and under my right side. I probably did more than I should have today as I was trying to help NBH. I don’t know what to do it’s hard at the moment but it will get better.

I made an effort and washed my hair and dried it (although that was painful in itself as NBH has been drying it for me) so lots of pain! I did my makeup too. So felt a bit brighter.

We had a lovely pea and mint soup made by my gorgeous husband. We walked into town to get some masking tape for some decorating that NBH is about to start on the hallway. (Part of the reason he was stressed earlier!!) oops we got some flowers to cheer up the room as all of my beautiful flowers people have bought me died. So I felt sad without them.

I bought a couple of tops I liked in Dorothy Perkins in the sale, yay!! We stopped and got a coffee and hot chocolate for the way home. I took a couple of pictures on our walk. We walked 3.7 miles today. My friends baby was born this morning at 8am, Mum is well and baby is healthy! We walked further than yesterday and my Spiroball is easily 2500ml and nearly 3000ml. I am pleased with the lung capacity progress and have done my exercises.

Lasagne tonight and chill time with hubby I hope!

LBH x










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Hi, thanks for stopping by!

Thanks so much for taking time out to read my story. I share my story and my journey on Instagram to build awareness about Chronic Illness and endometriosis.

 

Diagnosis of thoracic endometriosis has been a life changing experience with very little information out there.

 

Building a community of people who share their own experiences has made a huge difference to me and to others dealing with similar symptoms.

 

The idea was to support others on their path to diagnosis and treatment with shared experience. 

Look after yourself!

LBH x 

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