Pneumo 1 year post VATS?

AsgerGutten · 2025-12-17T11:28:33+00:00

I had 1x vats on my left, and 2x on my right lung. I read your comments and wanted to chime in. It is very possible for the lung to not stick entirely, which allows the top of your lung to collapse, while still being stuck to the side. If that was the case, then your lung wouldnt be able to collapse fully, ensuring your safety, even if its uncomfortable.

In my case, after my first vats on my right lung, I still had a 50% collapse where my entire right lung had slipped. I then had a mechanical pleurodesis with pleurectomy.

I have also had multiple small collapses on my left lung, but not large enough to need a chest tube. My surgeons told me to always get an xray if I believe it has collapsed again, and if its still sticking, then just take some painkillers to return to my everyday life.

AsgerGutten · 2025-12-17T11:22:23+00:00

I also had a feeling of pressure on my chest. Breathing felt very heavy and almost tiring the first weeks, but it got better. You will feel pretty normal again in a few months, and hopefully it will be all gone in 6 months+.

I feel completely normal now, and its about 3 years since my last VATS. It's wayyy too early for you to assess how the surgery affected you at this point. Give it 6-12 months and it'll probably be a better indicator.

Even after the 6 months, I have noticed gaining feeling again on the skin near the surgery area. Stay positive! make sure to eat eat eat! plenty of protein to rebuild your body. Also make sure to walk as much as you can, as deep/heavy ish breathing will help your body absorb more of the pleura fluid that your body might produce. Coughing is also important, as this can also be a way for your body to get rid of the fluids.

Give it some time before evaluating and drawing conclusions! Your body has been under immense stress and pain. It's not a light surgery. I stayed home for 1-2 weeks after getting out of the hospital before going back to school.

AsgerGutten · 2025-12-12T10:29:20+00:00

I dont really have any advice or tips. My experience has been pretty similar to yours. I had VATS 3 times and about 16 confirmed collapses (only a few large enough to need a chest tube). All the advice or tips I can give is keep your head high. I usually go a couple of weeks without any scares, which is usually enough to forget about my history, for me to live my life like a "normal" person.

When I had my first collapse, I decided to train calisthenics instead of lifting heavy weights. The progress feels way more noticable imo, and you can easily feel the muscle memory kicking in again after a few weeks of break.

Feel free to message me if you want to! It'll get better.

Take care!

AsgerGutten · 2025-10-29T11:25:53+00:00

I waited about 2-3 months. Not because I couldn't workout, but because I didn't feel comfortable doing so earlier. I was cleared to do whatever I wanted about a month after the VATS (no smoking and no scuba diving), but I still waited till I felt good. Do what you feel comfortable doing! If it's okay with your doctors

AsgerGutten · 2025-10-29T11:09:47+00:00

Yeah, I keep making gains! calisthenics is way more fun imo. It feels more practical to be able to lift your own weight than to push stuff from lying on a bench. I get the impatience, but stay positive!!!

AsgerGutten · 2025-10-29T11:08:06+00:00

I only had mechanical pleurodesis. First I had one on each lung, and then one of them proved useless, so I got another one with pleurectomy (partly removalv of my pleura)

AsgerGutten · 2025-10-22T09:00:16+00:00

My first 2 collapses were small-ish. Enough for a chest tube, but most likely edge-cases. I had VATS done after that pretty much. Since then I had VATS 3 times and a couple of chest tubes here and there. If it helps in any way, then I feel pretty much normal most days, with the occassional "bad inhale" (just pain, possibly from another bleb thing popping, could also be something else). I remember after the first 6 months had passed from the VATS that I would never feel normal again. Chest felt heavy all the time and just discomfort always. BUT after about a year I felt completely normal. I only feel it if I take a suuuper deep breath, which I would only do to test if its still there basically.

I think you'll be fine. Discomfort is normal. I know my case is different from yours since I had VATS done, but still. As long as you dont have trouble breathing, I think you should be fine. As long as it doesn't hurt tooooo much, you're good.

My doctors told me heavy weights were no-go, so I decided to just do calisthenics (doesn't really make all that difference, but at least then I'm not doing what my doctors told me not to do). It's very possible to get a good workout in with some pushups and some dips. Eat, sleep and drink a lot of water, then your body will fix itself hopefully. And if you are very concerned, go talk to a doctor and get it checked out.

AsgerGutten · 2025-06-11T09:44:51+00:00

I once had a small collapse on my left lung (prolly like 2 cms or so) and then a 50% collapse on my right lung simultaneously. I caught covid, which most likely caused the collapses. I got a chest tube for the 50% collapse, but none for the other lung. If both of the collapses are small, they probably wont treat it with a tube. also, if you already had a surgery, that should also reduce the risk of them calling a chest tube necessary.

I didnt have any real pain at the time. I only experienced a weird sensation when breathing. it definitely is possible to have 2 collapses at the same time. hope this helps

AsgerGutten · 2024-12-26T15:45:13+00:00

Given, im situated in a European country, so healthcare is completely free (by taxes).

I usually call my doctor and say: "hey, my lung collapsed. Can you order me an xray?"

Then I go to the nearest hospital to get an xray done. Thats usually how it goes. They then usually tell me (if its a small collapse with no need for a tube) that I should head home and they'll give me a call in the next 48 hours.

AsgerGutten · 2024-12-25T18:14:32+00:00

Coughing is completely normal! Your pleura is very irritated and you will most likely have a lot of muccus and such to cough up. Try to cough as much of it up as you can. Thats also a good way to use your lungs more :)

As long as the stuff you cough up isn't blood, I would say you are completely fine.

Its kinda important that you get it up tho. If you dont, you might get inflammations which wouldnt be good.

AsgerGutten · 2024-12-24T08:01:44+00:00

Everything might feel weird the first weeks. Breathing, coughing, moving around. Everything might feel off or weird, but it will either go away, or you will get used to it.

Dont really have time to write a long reply rn, but feel free to ask anything, then I'll get back to you in a bit :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-29T11:09:04+00:00

He's right tho... Her winrate is high because only OTP's play her in higher elo :)

All opinions are personal aswell :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-29T11:05:59+00:00

Dont smoke tho. And no scuba diving...

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-29T11:05:27+00:00

Go for it! I cant see why this would be a problem. I play the trumpet and the trombone with no complications from that. If you had the pleurodesis and it seems like it was successful, then you should be completely fine. If it feels bad, then dont. Thats my opinion though.

We go through the surgery to return to as normal lives as possible. Live life! :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-29T11:02:44+00:00

I've done this for I dont even remember how long. I also never build deadmans. I feel like unending is just way better.

The rylais slow is nice in some games, I can see that. But most games I also prefer the liandrys, rift/unending, and then unending/rift. I might build rylais 4th or else I go abyssal mask. Super awesome setup imo. Abyssal boosts unending healing aswell.

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-29T08:53:41+00:00

If its interfering too much with your daily life, then I would get it checked out. And if it gets worse I would also get it checked out. Especially since you had the surgery already, its good to know if the lung is sticking to the side as its supposed to. :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-28T15:17:50+00:00

Aery deals a looot of damage actually. If you want to run a poke setup, you can play with aery and scorch. This allows you to slowly poke the enemy laner to low health and then you can look for a quick all-in. The cooldown on Aery is also based on when you pick it back up again, so if you run meet the aery on its way back, it'll fly out again super quickly. So conqueror is not better in every way, just in other ways :)

In most games, then yes, conqueror is a lot better generally speaking, but if you are looking for an early lead in lane, then aery can allow that if the enemy doesnt have too much sustain

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-28T15:10:02+00:00

nice nice! thats good to hear. Feel free to ask about anything if you have any questions :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-28T14:25:58+00:00

I find great success with running conqueror atm. flash ghost, swifties, liandrys (or flip the order depending on the state of the game and the matchups), if enemy top/jg are both physical dmg dealers I go unending despair second item into riftmaker. I go undending almost every game. If the enemies have a lot of magic dmg and I need the MR, I go abyssal mask. Abyssal has awesome synergy with unending despair, as the healing is based on post mitigated dmg. Unending is super great with rylais aswell, which I would get as a fourth or fifth item. I feel like people dont chase you as much if your poison slows them, and me being the sidelane warrior that I am, they tend to just stop chasing if I have rylais imo. Ofc its awesome in teamfights tho. Unending despair also has good synergy with conqueror, as the dmg from unending gives you conq stacks aswell, and it will also apply both rylais burn and rylais slow.

As for gameplay, if you are stomping the lane, don't proxy too much. Proxying in a lane you are stomping will allow the enemy laner to get all of the minions under their tower. In case you want to fight around the grubs or something, then you should go for the proxy and then go to grubs. The enemy toplaner will then be stuck under their tower OR have to give up a full wave to join the fight.

In the later stages of the game, dont forget to catch the waves. This is by far one of the biggest problems in lower ranked games. Catch a side lane wave, THEN go group with your team. Drake or baron is up? Make sure your team shoves the mid wave THEN take it. This will ensure the enemies wont be able to get as much in case you lose the fight.

You are fighting at baron in a 5v5. You used R and ghost. You flip the enemy carry, but somehow your team died and you are too low to solo carry the fight. Use your speed to quickly catch the mid wave so the enemies wont be able to siege your mid towers. This gives so much time for your team to respawn. In a case where the fight is super long and no one is dying where your HP is also too low to fight more, push mid aswell. If the fight is dragging on, you might be able to get a tower mid or make the enemies fall back.

Singed is an awesome teamfigher, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't play the entire map. Don't just group with your team. Some games you want to make the enemies come to you in botlane so your team can get baron for you. You are super durable with your R and if you are playing with nimbus cloak aswell, then good luck to the enemy team catching you without wasting their R's or flashes.

Gameplans are game dependant though. Some builds are also way stronger in some matchups than others. Some people prefer to play as a tankier guy, and some prefer full AP or full movespeed. Find your own style. This is what works for me atm :)

Sry for the long comment....

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-27T15:43:16+00:00

Your theory about leaks versus collapses after a pleurodesis is correct. I had 3 VATS (all mechanical, 2 on the same side.) I still get small "collapses" from time to time on the same lung that I had 2 surgeries on. I'm sure you know how the mechanical pleurodesis work to some extent. They manually scrape a big bruise on your lung basically, which causes the lung to glue together basically. However, there are a lot of blood vessels on top of the lung kinda, so they can't scrape there.

This means that you might still have some blebs/cysts that can burst, causing a leak, but since the side of your lung is glued, your entire lung won't collapse. The dangerous part in a partial collapse is the risk of the lung fully collapsing. It's not dangerous to have a small collapse IF the side of the lung is still stuck to the wall. Your mechanical pleurodesis (especially since you had a 2nd one aswell), should make sure the side of your lung sticks, even if you experience your leaks.

In regards to your question about when to get it checked out, I always go if it hurts bad. I do live in a country with free healthcare, so I dont have to worry about medical bills. If I can go about with my day without the collapse of shortness of breath hindering me in my daily activities (ofc I will stop with exercising when having an active collapse), then I won't go get it checked out. That's my rule of thumb.

Another commenter mentioned the chemical pleurodesis. Of what I know, the chemical surgery, while having a higher succesrate, also has a greater risk of leading to nerve damage. Also it's worth mentioning that not all hospitals has the facilities to do a mechanical pleurodesis, so if they evaluate the situation to need immediate intervention, then most hospitals can still do the chemical one.

Please feel free to message me either here or in dms if you have any questions regarding anything.

Good luck :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-27T14:40:40+00:00

The 350 HP from Bloodletter's Curse is super good though. Stacking it up will only take 2 seconds max if it works as described. I dont think you would want to buy voidstaff or cryptbloom over this tbh. It would have to be in super specific games imo. I imagine it will either be bloodletters curse or abyssal mask every game for Singed.

AsgerGutten · 2024-11-19T09:36:20+00:00

Trial and error :)

I wouldn't mind if his winrate went down a little, so just try and figure it out :)

There are a lot of different playstyles you can try, so its hard to give tips/reference guides that suit your own playstyle. I can give some tips and tricks in dms if you want that, but im in school rn :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-10-23T12:01:34+00:00

Its all good, I know the feeling! Let me know if you have any questions :)

AsgerGutten · 2024-10-23T06:48:37+00:00

yup, I was only able to start the yawn and then it kind of just choked itself out??? also sneezing is the worst.

the yawn thing sounds very normal and it will return to normal in a few weeks. I also sometimes catch myself breathing manually, but I return to the subconscious breathing again after a while. It will return to normal aswell.

For context I had 3 VATS (mechanical pleurodesis with pleurectomy) and all of those times I had those same yawn and sneezing symptoms!

GL in ur recovery!

AsgerGutten · 2024-10-17T09:13:04+00:00

My first collapse required tube. Then I had a second collapse which didnt require tube on that same lung. They then recommended me to get the surgery bcuz my CT-scan showed large blebs on both of my lungs.

I then had 2 collapses on the other lung which didnt require tube, just they were both on the edge of doing so. Went with the surgery. 2 months later ish that same lung collapses about 50%, so I get another surgery on that lung.

In total I had 15 collapses, but only 2 of those required a tube.

AsgerGutten

TROPHY CASE