Recovery after Surgery

DONCARLOS said:

Hi I had my lobectomy on June 30, 09. I had to go back becuase I had shortness of breath caused by fluid. I was released after a few days and have been home since July 13, and doing well I guess. Very little pain and for sometiem numbness accross my chest and side. I do take my pain pill but not too much of it. I did develop some anxiety and depression and that is botheing more now than anything else. I also had a OSTREOSCAN and my Ocnologist found that I am free of any cancer in any part of my body, so I should be very happy but I am still depressed and often do get the pains you are describing, but I try to keep on working on some small chores etc. I am now 77 and I feel that I am not going through any more of this suffering as I did a few weeks ago. I also heard from a neighbor who had the same operation back in February and he is in constant pain, but I see him working on his garden every day. I guess we are just a little anxious to getthis part of our lives out of the way and as long as we keep thinking about it we will continue to bring the feeling back. I have to agree that these pains do not go away and keep coming back. I also hear that depression is a good friend of cancer so we must work on geteting our spirits back in a positive track. I am trying by keeping busy around the house, I wish yu well and keep writing....Reading good news from some of us will also make us happy.

Be well

Don Carlos.

Good news
I think it is good news that I haven't had to have a cancer operation since 2006, especially since I have been diagnosed with both breast cancer and lung cancer. When I was first diagnosed with cancer (2002, breast cancer) I was very depressed. I was so sure that the end was near. I remember wondering if I had a month or a year left. At the time I didn't know that cancer, even bad cases of it, are often something you live with. There were and are many things I do to keep anxious and depressed thoughts from taking over. Exercising every day helps me sleep lots better. Either I take a walk or go to the gym, in addition to anything I do around the house. It also seems to help if I have something good planned. Sometimes that is as simple as a trip out to dinner at the end of the week. Sometimes it has been a trip to go skiing for a weekend. It may sound corny to some folks that I had to give the worrying to God, but it seemed to me that he was big enough to handle that part of cancer and I sure wasn't too good at handling it. In any case, that helped too. Avoiding reading about cancer just before bed helps, but of course that's when I have the most time. Talking on the chatroom with other survivors sometimes puts my own problems in perspectives and that helps. I wonder what else other folks are doing to keep depression at bay.