Horrible horrible pain.

Z

Zombie Thorne_sl

shitlord
918
1
The butthole stories always hurt!!!

I haven't posted much lately, and thought I might as well update this thread since I can't do much else for the next few weeks. And I'm pretty high on painkillers!

I've been out of the hospital for 2 days now. I had at thoracotomy on the 17th to remove a necrotic abscess in my left lung. They ended up removing about a third of my lung in the process. This was the first "major" surgery I have ever had and hopefully the last. The pain is still pretty bad and will stay that way for a few weeks. I had chest tubes in for 5 days, if anyone has ever dealt with that I will offer a hug, holy shit it was horrible. Imagine 2 feet of garden hose chilling in your chest, yes you can feel it every time you move anything.

The pneumonia I had in October never really got better. I would be on antibiotics for a few weeks and start to feel pretty good, but just a few days after taking the cycle I would be back to extreme pain and high fever. We had been short handed at work and trying to finish a few major contracts so I just dealt with it and worked 12 hour days until I nearly worked myself to death. Everything got worse in January, I started coughing up blood and all kinds of nasty stuff. Went through tests, Ct scans, MRI's... Just about everything possible until the abscess finally went necrotic and damn near exploded. I ended up having a pocket in my lung that likely formed at birth that the abscess got stuck in and walled itself off from any antibiotics and such. I would do ok while on meds, but right back to sick as hell afterwards. Once the issue was finally identified I had surgery scheduled and here I am. Already feeling much better besides the pain.

Thoracotomy's suck.
 
D

dolaan_sl

shitlord
62
0
Glad you are on the mend.

Had many surgeries but always on limbs. I feel like I could move into position where if I did not move it would not really hurt but chest every breath must hurt. Please don't cough ))
 
NeverlosT

NeverlosT

Golden Knight of the Realm
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I know your pain.

2001 - Bad mountainbiking crash, three broken vertebra, collapsed left lung 40 percent, 5 broken ribs. No chest tubes (thank god) body absorbed the air back (or so I was told). Months on my back and in a wheelchair, walker, crutches, then walking.
2002 - lung collapses again at the beach snorkeling. Told I can never go in water again, not even bathtub or risk collapse. Doctor says he has a solution, have Pleuradhesis performed on the left side. Literally scars my lung to my chest wall by collapsing it, burning it with an acid abrasive, and re-inflating it. Had two chest tubes in that time for a week. It was shitty. Getting them out was gnarly. 16" long inside you (I know, I know, har har). The tubes are clear so you can watch the blood and chunks come out. Nasty.
2002 - later on turned out they scarred my lung to my heart too. Get up from nap, stretch, lung tears from epicardial sack (or whatever surrounds that guy) and have mild heart attack. Good times.
2002-2010 - glory period. Lung works the tits. Race bikes, scuba dive, climb, snowboard, mountaineer, make whoopie, all that shit.
2010 - Bad downhill mountainbiking wreck. Broke 15 bones and collapsed both lungs (left one couldn't "collapse" again so broken ribs just shredded it). Pelvis broken in three places, sacrum, L5, collarbone, left arm in three places, scapula, all the goodies.
2010 3 months later - back riding bikes.

Useful data points -

- in the hospital in 2010 I didnt shit for weeks. broken pelvis made things weird. Eventually shit and it was terrible. I was in tears. Seriously worse pain than the broken bones. I hate those painkillers because of that constipation biz.
- When you get your chest tubes removed, if you go and look in the mirror and lift your arm, you can see inside yourself. Pretty fuckin dodgy. Had to shower with a bag taped to my chest so nothing got in there.
- I know some of you mofos are going to say dont ride bikes anymore, but its my thing man.

Thorn, glad you are still kicking. Don't sweat the lung not being complete anymore. My left one is not either, your body can actually compensate a bit and if you still do athletic stuff your VO2 will be just fine. Be stoked that they got that all worked out and it didn't kill you. It is weird knowing more pain than most. Heal up.
 
Gravy

Gravy

Bronze Squire
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Zombie Thorne_sl said:
The butthole stories always hurt!!!

I haven't posted much lately, and thought I might as well update this thread since I can't do much else for the next few weeks. And I'm pretty high on painkillers!

I've been out of the hospital for 2 days now. I had at thoracotomy on the 17th to remove a necrotic abscess in my left lung. They ended up removing about a third of my lung in the process. This was the first "major" surgery I have ever had and hopefully the last. The pain is still pretty bad and will stay that way for a few weeks. I had chest tubes in for 5 days, if anyone has ever dealt with that I will offer a hug, holy shit it was horrible. Imagine 2 feet of garden hose chilling in your chest, yes you can feel it every time you move anything.

The pneumonia I had in October never really got better. I would be on antibiotics for a few weeks and start to feel pretty good, but just a few days after taking the cycle I would be back to extreme pain and high fever. We had been short handed at work and trying to finish a few major contracts so I just dealt with it and worked 12 hour days until I nearly worked myself to death. Everything got worse in January, I started coughing up blood and all kinds of nasty stuff. Went through tests, Ct scans, MRI's... Just about everything possible until the abscess finally went necrotic and damn near exploded. I ended up having a pocket in my lung that likely formed at birth that the abscess got stuck in and walled itself off from any antibiotics and such. I would do ok while on meds, but right back to sick as hell afterwards. Once the issue was finally identified I had surgery scheduled and here I am. Already feeling much better besides the pain.

Thoracotomy's suck.
Click to expand...
One of my best days in the hospital was when they took the chest tubes out. Holy crap.

Get well soon mang.
 
McCheese

McCheese

SW: Sean, CW: Crone, GW: Wizardhawk
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NeverlosT_sl said:
I know your pain.

2001 - Bad mountainbiking crash, three broken vertebra, collapsed left lung 40 percent, 5 broken ribs. No chest tubes (thank god) body absorbed the air back (or so I was told). Months on my back and in a wheelchair, walker, crutches, then walking.
2002 - lung collapses again at the beach snorkeling. Told I can never go in water again, not even bathtub or risk collapse. Doctor says he has a solution, have Pleuradhesis performed on the left side. Literally scars my lung to my chest wall by collapsing it, burning it with an acid abrasive, and re-inflating it. Had two chest tubes in that time for a week. It was shitty. Getting them out was gnarly. 16" long inside you (I know, I know, har har). The tubes are clear so you can watch the blood and chunks come out. Nasty.
2002 - later on turned out they scarred my lung to my heart too. Get up from nap, stretch, lung tears from epicardial sack (or whatever surrounds that guy) and have mild heart attack. Good times.
2002-2010 - glory period. Lung works the tits. Race bikes, scuba dive, climb, snowboard, mountaineer, make whoopie, all that shit.
2010 - Bad downhill mountainbiking wreck. Broke 15 bones and collapsed both lungs (left one couldn't "collapse" again so broken ribs just shredded it). Pelvis broken in three places, sacrum, L5, collarbone, left arm in three places, scapula, all the goodies.
2010 3 months later - back riding bikes.

Useful data points -

- in the hospital in 2010 I didnt shit for weeks. broken pelvis made things weird. Eventually shit and it was terrible. I was in tears. Seriously worse pain than the broken bones. I hate those painkillers because of that constipation biz.
- When you get your chest tubes removed, if you go and look in the mirror and lift your arm, you can see inside yourself. Pretty fuckin dodgy. Had to shower with a bag taped to my chest so nothing got in there.
- I know some of you mofos are going to say dont ride bikes anymore, but its my thing man.

Thorn, glad you are still kicking. Don't sweat the lung not being complete anymore. My left one is not either, your body can actually compensate a bit and if you still do athletic stuff your VO2 will be just fine. Be stoked that they got that all worked out and it didn't kill you. It is weird knowing more pain than most. Heal up.
Click to expand...
Jesus Christ dude, that sounds awful. It's posts like this that make me glad I'm generally a couch potato.
 
NeverlosT

NeverlosT

Golden Knight of the Realm
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210
It wasn't any fun at the time, but I don't really remember the pain, and I am sure that in time Thorne won't either.
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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NeverlosT_sl said:
I know your pain.

2001 - Bad mountainbiking crash, three broken vertebra, collapsed left lung 40 percent, 5 broken ribs. No chest tubes (thank god) body absorbed the air back (or so I was told). Months on my back and in a wheelchair, walker, crutches, then walking.
2002 - lung collapses again at the beach snorkeling. Told I can never go in water again, not even bathtub or risk collapse. Doctor says he has a solution, have Pleuradhesis performed on the left side. Literally scars my lung to my chest wall by collapsing it, burning it with an acid abrasive, and re-inflating it. Had two chest tubes in that time for a week. It was shitty. Getting them out was gnarly. 16" long inside you (I know, I know, har har). The tubes are clear so you can watch the blood and chunks come out. Nasty.
2002 - later on turned out they scarred my lung to my heart too. Get up from nap, stretch, lung tears from epicardial sack (or whatever surrounds that guy) and have mild heart attack. Good times.
2002-2010 - glory period. Lung works the tits. Race bikes, scuba dive, climb, snowboard, mountaineer, make whoopie, all that shit.
2010 - Bad downhill mountainbiking wreck. Broke 15 bones and collapsed both lungs (left one couldn't "collapse" again so broken ribs just shredded it). Pelvis broken in three places, sacrum, L5, collarbone, left arm in three places, scapula, all the goodies.
2010 3 months later - back riding bikes.

Useful data points -

- in the hospital in 2010 I didnt shit for weeks. broken pelvis made things weird. Eventually shit and it was terrible. I was in tears. Seriously worse pain than the broken bones. I hate those painkillers because of that constipation biz.
- When you get your chest tubes removed, if you go and look in the mirror and lift your arm, you can see inside yourself. Pretty fuckin dodgy. Had to shower with a bag taped to my chest so nothing got in there.
- I know some of you mofos are going to say dont ride bikes anymore, but its my thing man.

Thorn, glad you are still kicking. Don't sweat the lung not being complete anymore. My left one is not either, your body can actually compensate a bit and if you still do athletic stuff your VO2 will be just fine. Be stoked that they got that all worked out and it didn't kill you. It is weird knowing more pain than most. Heal up.
Click to expand...
My recommendation: stay off of bikes

I can't even wrap my head around all of that. I've never been to the ER, I've never broken anything or had stitches. I also pretty much stopped playing any sports after highschool though, nothing more strenuous than the occasional pickup game of baskeball or water skiing/wakeboarding for me.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Did you know that Tom Cruise used to race cars with Paul Newman, but he was too aggressive and everyone made him stop because he was going to kill himself and he was incapable of dialing it back? That's you and mountain bikes dude. Find a different thing.
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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NeverlosT_sl said:
- I know some of you mofos are going to say dont ride bikes anymore, but its my thing man.
Click to expand...
I was just going to suggest that you stop sucking so bad at it, personally.
 
Frenzied Wombat

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
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Yeah seriously, you're trying *really* hard to earn a modern day Darwinism award via bike death. A collapsed lung and shattered vertebrae on your first incident should have been a hint..

Anyways, about to find out what if anything can be done about my pain.. I herniated a disc lifting weights when I was 23 and was operated on to remove the disc fragments which were putting pressure on my nerves, now 17 years later I've got arthritis in my lumbar spine since the disc "cushion" is gone. I wake up fucking stiff as hell and have to "fish" my socks on until 3 advil can kick in. Then as the day goes on my back muscles ache because they're trying to stabilize my spine. Unfortunately based on my reading not much can be done and at this pace I don't know how I'll still be walking 20 years from now.
 
C

Crazily

N00b
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I have keinbocks or kleinbochs ......in both my wrists. Had it my whole life.....which sucks cause it really limits what I can do. Luckily I like to play PC games and it actually doesn't bother me to much while playing. I also have a prescription for Vicodin as needed.....hard to walk that line. There is a new drug coming...been all over the news lately for those with serious chronic pain called Zohydro. I bought a ton of their stock at 1.90 last year because I knew it was coming. Sold at 5 bucks about a month ago.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

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Dude it's cool to have a dream but it sounds like you aren't good at bike riding. Raptor Jesus has tried to tell you politely a few times now to knock it off.
 
Frenzied Wombat

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
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Crazily_sl said:
I have keinbocks or kleinbochs ......in both my wrists. Had it my whole life.....which sucks cause it really limits what I can do. Luckily I like to play PC games and it actually doesn't bother me to much while playing. I also have a prescription for Vicodin as needed.....hard to walk that line. There is a new drug coming...been all over the news lately for those with serious chronic pain called Zohydro. I bought a ton of their stock at 1.90 last year because I knew it was coming. Sold at 5 bucks about a month ago.
Click to expand...
Huge uproar over Zohydro-- pretty much every group out there is pressing the FDA not to approve it. It's just another version of Oxycontin-- Oxycodone in a extended release format. The argument is that there is enough opiate pain killers out there, and all this new drug will do is create more addicts/overdoses.. They need to find a good non-opiate pain killer already. I don't know how people can get through life/work on a daily dose of Vicodin, shit makes you spacey..
 
D

Duppin_sl

shitlord
3,785
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Yeah, they're buying every game that comes out on its release day with "disability" checks and 100%ing it three days later.
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

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Duppin_sl said:
Yeah, they're buying every game that comes out on its release day with "disability" checks and 100%ing it three days later.
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Not to derail, but I work with the public in a middle to low income area and you'd be amazed at the amount of people we deal with on a regular basis who come in our office talking about getting on disability like they just won the damn lottery. I'm talking people in their 20s and 30s who are apparently well enough to still drive their motorcycles and ATVs and go hunting/fishing all the time. That is, when they have the time to do that in-between breeding their gaggle of children. And honestly, it's all regular ol white folks. We have a lot of minorities(mexicans and blacks mostly) and you almost never hear them talking about anything of the sort.

The worst is when people first get on disability, they get a retroactive check for the entire period from when they first applied, to when they get approved(sometimes a year or more) so they get this HUGE check, and usually go out and immediately blow it on a brand new car, or Harley, or something else equally useless and stupid. Yeah, you need that brand new Mustang GT for that commute you don't have to that nonexistant job.

We actually had one lady bitch for almost half an hour one day because she turned 65 and thought she was going to get social security on top of the disability she had already been getting for 20 years. She didn't realize that disability is basically just getting your social security benefits early. She was SO mad, said she had all sorts of plans for the extra money that she now wasn't getting (getting a car for her granddaughter who was turning 16 soon, buying new furniture for her house that she "needs", etc)

Working with the public lessens my faith in humanity every single day.

/rant off
 
Vanderhoof

Vanderhoof

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I work as a nurse practitioner at a community mental health center. I see some of the laziest assholes imaginable who want me to sign off on their disability paperwork.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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joeboo_sl said:
Working with the public lessens my faith in humanity every single day.

/rant off
Click to expand...
I know people that have gone into social work and found out pretty much the same thing. When you're in school you're thinking "I'm going to help the poor and needy and it will be great!" and then when you start doing it it's like "Oh, my job is to get money for useless piece of shit junkies so they can keep being what they are."
 
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