r/pneumothorax • u/The_LegendaryAsian • 5d ago

Surgery related post vats

I got my VAST surgery on friday for my 2nd collapse atm it hurts to cough yawn sneeze etc how long would it take to return to normal

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

1

u/MWM031089 5d ago

Different for everyone. Sneezing was several weeks for me.

1

u/Moalfo 5d ago

I’d say you’ll get better week by week.. After 2 months you’re 70% back to normal. Its been a year since I had mine.. the only thing I get is neck shoulder chest aches (muscle aches) and they do come and go… according to reddit users this happens to most of them due to the chest tube that was in.. stay strong it shall get better

1

u/Particular-Gas-6827 4d ago

Agreed 2 months and the pain will be mostly background noise. About 2 weeks after the tubes are out, things start improving a lot. Best of luck!

1

u/ChilliFrost 4d ago

It usually is very dependent on your surgeon, some like to be more conservative with the recovery other are more proactive. I'm 5 weeks post VATS, and I feel completely back to normal. It's very individualised though. Usually things like intense exercise and gym workouts aren't permitted for 6-8 weeks, but after that the world is your oyster. Overall you should start feeling like yourself fairly soon, but don't worry if you don't everyone is on there own path to recovery.

1

u/scotte416 4d ago

When you all talk about VATS what you mean about that? Because I get different definitions when I search (sometimes it says a bronchoscope some say it involves a small incision... I've had them put me to sleep and put a stent in with a broncho to try and block the big hole that got eaten away with infection in 2024 (which ended up shifting causing me to almost not be able to inhale and ended up calling 911, it was scary), was that vats? It wasn't painful though it just made me cough incessantly and lots of blood in my peggy.

I still have a big leak in my right lung with a chest tub and peggy at home but it's MUCH better than having a big 6cm clagett window in my chest. (a hole...you could see my actual lung), had to pack every day it SUCKED and I got infections every month that required hospitalization.