corvidcorax

The second time around I had a pigtail put in and they did it wrong. Really fucking hurt. I ditched that hospital and went to another and they said, "Two strikes you're out. Time for the garden hose."

Have the doctors explained to you that likely after two you'll get a procedure called a pleurodesis?

I had two spontaneous lungs collapses recently. For the first one they did the pig tail. For the second one I got the "garden hose". The pleurodesis procedure fused my right lung to my thoracic cavity by spraying talcum powder onto the tissue. So if there is another pop it can't collapse fully and kill me. The garden hose pulled all the blood out of my cavity after the surgery. When the doctor pulled out the hose my sweetheart almost fainted. Not a good time.

Edit: Btw I was 36 yo when I had both of my lung collapses. I've never smoked and have no idea why they happened.

2nd edit: Pleurodesis

I had the VATS pleurodesis to clear my blebs. I had a lot of pain from the chest tube site after surgery (though the drugs kept that down). Felt like a knife was in my chest. The major pain went away after a week or so.

Definitely use the incentive spirometer if they gave you one. Really helped me get going.