Chronic pain after bullectomy + talc pleurodesis
In March I had a spontaneous pneumothorax in my left lung which led to me having a chest drain while waiting for surgery. Once the procedure was done, a specialist came over and told them they had put it in the wrong way but this wasn’t rectified. I had this drain in for 8 or 9 days and the pain was excruciating due to it being directly on a nerve, I could barely move as it felt like my chest was literally ripping open anytime I tried. Despite being drugged on 2 different opioids and pregabalin, nothing helped and a nerve blocker was even administered, this was done by an untrained nurse who had to be talked through the procedure and it did nothing to help the pain. After a week suffering I was transferred to another hospital for my operation where I had a bullectomy and talc pleurodesis, the air drain was removed and a another one was inserted for about 4 days to remove the liquid on my lungs from the surgery and I was discharged once this was removed. It is now August and I still have pain in my lung where the chest drain was aswell as aching from deep breaths and coughing etc. the pain varies from burning, aching and sometimes electric shock/stabbing pain and I’m curious if anyone else experiences similar symptoms and if they have any advice, my doctors took me off of the pain meds after 2 months and was placed on a fostair steroid inhaler but this makes the pain worse. I’ve been waiting for months to be seen by a specialist(typical NHS). Will I ever go back to normal? Is this common?
Edit: I forgot to mention I tried returning to work after 2 months but had to be taken back to hospital due to increased pain and tight chest. It didn’t collapse again but I was told I returned to work too soon due to is being physical at times.