Pleurx pain

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dancingdiva
dancingdiva Member Posts: 475
edited September 2022 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

hi I just had a Pleurx installed yesterday and I have pain outside the tube pain. Next to the tube, my rib and insides are hurting. It’s like I have something in there. It really hurts. Is thisnnormal

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  • Chicagoan
    Chicagoan Member Posts: 728
    edited August 2022

    Dancing Diva-My pleurex hurt for about a week, especially if I laid on my side. Let's face it-getting in put in is minor surgery and you do have a foreign object now in your body. It's natural for your body to be sore around the incision, especially since there is a tube in there. But after a week, I no longer had pain around the incision, so I hope that yours goes away. If it is too much, call your doctor to be sure there is no infection. Do you have a nurse checking on you as you do your initial drainage? I hope everything goes well for you. After about 6 months, I was able to have it removed and hope you can too eventually.

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  • dancingdiva
    dancingdiva Member Posts: 475
    edited August 2022

    Thx Chicago that gives me hope. I am feeling better. The nurses are supposed to come Monday. My temp is still way higher than normal. I realized they put the cover tape over a stitch. I didn’t realize I had a stitch on the outskirts of where the tube is. I’m new to this. Do u know why u had water buildup? I keep filling up but there nothing showing on scans. It’s hiding some where

    Thx DD

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  • Chicagoan
    Chicagoan Member Posts: 728
    edited August 2022

    DD-I am glad you are feeling better but still concerned that your temperature is high. Glad to know that the nurse is coming on Monday to check things out. My pleural effusion was due to my MBC. Once the cancer got under control with Ibrance/Letrozole, the pleural effusion dried up. Having the Pleurex catheter was really helpful because the frequent drainage made it easier for me to breathe. It was very depressing for me at first to have it inserted but ultimately it helped me to get better. I wish the same for you.

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  • Sadiesservant
    Sadiesservant Member Posts: 1,995
    edited August 2022

    Hi DancingDiva,

    Sorry p, just seeing this now but I agree with Chicagoan, the pain is probably normal. While it’s minor surgery, they have to tunnel under the skin which causes quite a bit of pain once the meds wear off. Did they give you anything for the pain? A prescription? Tylenol should take down your fever but watch for any signs of infection such as blotchy redness near where the tube comes out.

    The cancer in the pleural lining of the lung causes the body to release fluid as a way to deal with the inflammation and irritation (which causes the cough). In my case the PleurX Catheter was a godsend as I was accumulating fluid so fast that a thoracentesis only provided short term relief. It took about six months before the lung finally dried up. That was over five years ago and I haven’t had any trouble since.

    I hope things improve quickly for you.

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  • dancingdiva
    dancingdiva Member Posts: 475
    edited September 2022

    hi ladies, I’m slowly feeling better pain wise and getting used to this tube out of my body. They drained 2 1/2 litres over this past week. I felt a lot of chest pain I guess because the lung is adjusting. I’m still short of breathe and tired. The short of breathe is better but still I feel like a Sasquatch. I thought I would feel way more energetic after all this liquid out. What were your experiences?

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  • Chicagoan
    Chicagoan Member Posts: 728
    edited September 2022

    Hi DD-Thanks for posting. I was wondering how you were doing. That is a lot of drainage-no wonder you feel tired and short of breath. I was quite sick initially and I think felt much like you. I pushed myself to walk every day. It took about six months for me to feel stronger and more energetic. I hope that is not discouraging. Now-so many years later I feel great and fairly energetic. I did have permanent damage to my lung because I think I had fluid for several months. My lung partially collapsed and never fully inflated. I notice it now when I am hiking uphill-it's harder for me than for other people but I can still hike. Bottom line-be patient-let the Ibrance/letrozole do their thing. Exercise to your capacity, even if it is very mild but keep moving. Rest when you need to.

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  • NewGardener
    NewGardener Member Posts: 109
    edited September 2022

    Hi Dancing Diva,

    It was definitely a a couple of weeks before I started to feel noticeably better after my Pleurx was installed in mid-February. And it was still more weeks before I was walking the dog any distance. I never had a lot of pain, but I was tired and short of breath. I also was having about 1 L drained 3x per week at that time - the volumes and home care visits then started to decline.

    I hope you start feeling more energy soon.

    P.S. I just had my Pleurx removed last Friday. Unfortunately the volume of fluid never really dried up completely, but the doctor agree to remove it just because I was finding it so uncomfortable.

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