Why am I writing this?

I had most of the upper lobe of my left lung surgically removed on October 28th, 2013. The Latissimus Dorsi muscle was used to fill the empty space. I was born in 1954. I had had a chronic Aspergillus infection in my lungs for several years, with a large cyst in my left upper lung.

I recall the frustration I felt trying to find the experience of other people who had had similar surgery. I want to record my experience before the details fade so that it may benefit the next person facing similar surgery.

A brief outline of what I want to cover:

1. What was the cause of my condition?
1. I had a cyst in the top of my left lung. It was a result of successful treatment of Mycobacterium kansasii using standard turbucolis treatment about 15 years before.
2. Why did I have the surgery?
1. The resulting empty space in my left lung became filled with Aspergillus fungus and it became a cyst. Over time the cyst was slowly growing and was beginning to threaten the artery to the heart.
3. How did I prepare for surgery?  
1. Losing weight (40 pounds) by tracking calories and working out about 2 hours per day for 5 days each week over a period of about 5 months. The first 10 pounds was done during the previous year.
2. Since I knew from my surgeon that my latissmus dorsi would be use to fill the empty space in my lung, I focused on trying to increase the size of this muscle as much I I could in a 4 month period.
4. What was the experience of surgery?  Not fun. My wife told me I was so bloated up after surgery, face, arms, legs, hands and feet that I was unrecognizable. During one of my follow up checks my doctor introduced me (again) to the doctor who actually reached in between my ribs and removed the cyst. My doctor was surprised that I didn't recognize the other surgeon, he said that he had introduced him to my when I was conscious right after surgery.  I told him I didn't recall. (I do have a memory of being wheeled on  gurney into a cold, stainless steel type of room that seemed like "grand central" of patients on steel gurneys. Then being slid sideways onto another platform and a woman saying whats wrong with his hip? A man said that is because he was lying on his side for 8 hours.)
5. What was the recovery like as each month went by?
1. The first few days in the hospital recovery room where interesting. 
1. I almost regretted having the IV removed and having to eat solid food again. No one warned me that a patient on pain killers, me, may have trouble coordinating the process of swallowing. I had to be very careful not inhale any food or drink. With limited lung capacity and sore muscles in my chest this was very scary.
2. Then there was as much walking as I could tolerate. 
2. I was fortunate that my wonderful wife took care of me, making sure that I (we)  showered a couple of times a week and changing my JP drains each day.
3. The criteria for leaving the hospital was being able to have a "crap." This was more challenging than I expected, but an enema on the last day did it. It has been 14 months and my time in the bathroom has not returned to "normal," it seems that my body prefers many small movements each day vice one big one.
4. A lot of snoring. The last month or two this has begun to subside.
5. Getting up every two hours to pee. I started sleeping through for a solid seven hours after about a year.  I still have to get up about 3am, but I think I did that a lot before my surgery.
6. It took several days to be able to manage laying down horizontally without a lot of distress due to injured muscles in my chest.
7. It took about 14 months before I felt getting out of be after 7 hours of sleep, but I needed to make up for lost sleep on weekends.
8. It took about 6 months to get the the point of being able to commute and work 40 hours in a week without feeling distressed.
9. I did the exercises I found on the Web for recovery of shoulder function, over time they worked just fine. About 5 months to regain ~normal range of motion.
10. I did a modified form of the Royal Canadian 5BX plan (level 1, then 2) for men during the second month and beyond, until I could advance to more demanding workouts.
6. Regaining pulmonary function.
1. Running for 75 steps, count 1 for each time the left foot hits the ground, would make me feel like I was suffocating a few seconds after I finished the run. Very scary feeling.
2. Could swim freestyle only half the length of a 25 yard pool. Didn't start swimming until May about 7 months after surgery.
3. 14 months later I can walk up 7 flights of steps before I have to take a break and regain my breath for several minutes. This is good.  I can run 100 steps without dying.
7. Regaining muscle function in my left shoulder.
1. Most of this has been told above.
2. Found that I could do simply rowing exercises and one or two "Australian" pull-ups.
3. Today, 2015017, I did 5 "Australian" pull-ups before I had to shift to rowing type exercise. I am working on completing the basic Navy Seal Pyramid of pull-ups, pushups, crunches described in my book reference in another post on this site.
4. I've had full range of motion since month 7 as I recall.
1. Discovered in "restorative yoga" class that my range of motion is not a complete as   I thought it was. If I lie on my back and stretch my arms out along the floor beyond the top of my head, my left arm lefts off the floor. I don't have the flexibility to keep it flat, compared to my right arm. 
5. I tried a negative chin up from half way up a few weeks ago, about 20150601. It felt very uncomfortable and I let go of the bar almost immediately. I've been giving more attention to various kinds of dips and push ups with my hands at elbow distance from my chest.  This feels like it is bring more function to my left arm, with out injury myself. (Once a week work outs with 6 days of recovery time.)
8. Partial loss of feeling in toes.
1. The tips of my toes felt a slight sting against the sheets of my bed the first week home.
2. My toes and pads on my feet, just behind the toes feel slightly numb, like there was a coat of was between my skin and what I am touching with my feet. I supposed this would gradually go away with time.
3. My toes would also look "black" if I stood or sat relatively still for a few minutes.  At my final check up with my surgeon at 7 months out from surgery.  His resident checked me out.  I asked about this feeling of numbness in my toes.  I got the expected reply inquiring to circulation or possible diabetes, not very creative. I don't have any indication of diabetes and my circulation is good in both feet.
4. A few months later, 13 months out from surgery I asked my family doctor.  We came to the conclusion that I must have had some nerve damage in my legs during surgery and it was inhibiting micro-blood flow in the feet. 
1. It has been getting slightly better over time, but very slowly.  My doctor said this type of nerve damage usually recovers at a rate of about one inch per month, so if we assume the problem has its origins in my calf then it may take a year or two to regenerate all the way back to my toes. We'll see.  The first few days  after surgery I had airbags attached to a pump around my calves. These bags would tighten around my legs, then relax and repeat in a slow cycle.  My family doctor thinks this may have been the cause of loss of sensation in my feet. 
2. 20150628 - about a month ago I suddenly realized that may toes don't get "black" anymore. If I sit very still for a while I can make it happen, but the coloring is not nearly as pronounced as it was. I still have some numbness in the very tips of my toes. This is much better that it was at the beginning of 2015.