Pain, Pain, Go Away, Come Again Some Other Day...

Just a word to (and from) the wise: If you have lung surgery, wait a few weeks before sleeping on your stomach for the night. When you wake up you do NOT feel refreshed.

Because I am limited to the different positions I can sleep in without being in pain, my neck and lower back have decided to hate me the last few days. This is understandable. Since I normally always sleep on my stomach it's difficult for me to sleep any other way. It's just not as comfortable. I can't pull the blankets halfway over my head any other way. There's always some weird light either from the hall or my clock or outside or whatever that somehow finds it's way to my line of vision if I'm not sleeping on my stomach. Plus, I just feel more "tucked in" my way. Therefore, I prefer my normal way of sleeping to any other which makes it hard for me to fall asleep to begin with aside from dealing with being in pain as well.

Last night I decided that perhaps I was strong enough to sleep my favorite way. I propped myself up a little from the bed with my body pillow on my right side and was out in minutes. When I woke up around 5:30am to the sound of my dogs running to the kitchen for food, I found myself gasping for breath as if an elephant was sitting on my chest. I stood up and could barely breath. That was fun! I wound up using my lung machine thing and walking up and down the hallway in order to convince myself that my lung had not collapsed in my sleep.

I wound up taking a few more pain pills and fell back asleep practically sitting up, on my back. I am just now starting to feel like I can take deeper breaths again without difficulty. Needless to say, I highly doubt I will be sleeping on my stomach again anytime soon. This was the most pain I've been in since the surgery, in my lung.

Today marks a week since the surgery. It feels like time is already flying by. Most of the discomfort and pain I've been enduring has been coming from the incisions and up in my shoulder since there is a lot of pressure up there. This morning was really the first time I felt real pain in my lung. It is not something I would want to happen again so I guess I will just be stuck sleeping in an uncomfortable position, with my neck and lower back sore each day. I guess this is a fair trade-off for being able to breathe.