We have a Dr. Appointment on wed and I know most of us are no Doctors here so just looking for personal experiences with my issue. My SO had lung surgery on the left lung 6 days ago. She is home now and still on O2. Supposedly she only had a small lesion removed from the less than 1/2 lung she had remaining on the left side. Pathology was negative for cancer but the surgeon was not able to get right on the lesion because of so much scar tissue from the last surgery. He had to cut the surgery short after 5 hours of struggling.
Just based on the little blow machine they gave her to exercise her lungs it appears she has less than 1/2 the capacity she had before surgery. the machine now moves to 600 when she inhales and it was moving to 1400. Could this be because the pain is causing her to shallow breath? Could the pain medication be causing shallow breathing? Is the O2 making it too easier on her and she is becoming dependent on it? I have sen her drop down in the the high 70's on her O2 saturation when walking around and show no sign of heavy breathing or distress?? I monitor her pretty closely.
Pain meds (opiates) do affect breathing and may be diminishing her respiratory effort. The fact that she is inspiring to only 600 is an indication that her lungs need the exercise.
Momentary desaturations into the 70s are common; the sensors are not all that reliable. Placement has a lot to do with it and they are easily dislodged, often without even realizing it. What’s important is that the sats quickly bounce back to baseline (hopefully the mid to upper 90s).
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ETA: Whatever you do, don’t let her lollygag in bed. Up and at 'em! (not that that’s what you’re doing)
She is doing a good job of pushing herself to get up and do things. I have to give her 2 ML of the O2 to keep her in the high 90’s when she is active. 1 ML when she is resting.
The lung restriction and loss of volume is due to pain and scarring from the surgery – I’m assuming this was “crack the ribs open” type surgery rather than bronchoscopy, no? Depending on pre-existing conditions, it could take anywhere from several weeks to several months to get back to her baseline volumes. There’s also the possibility that she might never get back to baseline. 600 is not much volume. Very doubtful that the supplemental O₂ has any influence on lung volumes. Don’t worry about sats dropping when she’s up and moving. The sensor bounces around and gives false readings. You say she’s not experiencing any shortness of breath. Are you sure the lung volume monitoring device is working correctly, and that she’s using it correctly? What is it, exactly? The more background you can give, the better our random stranger on the internet advice will be.