Pneumothorax

My little brother, Andrew, has suffered pneumothorax twice.  Once just before I graduated high school though he didn't go to the hospital until the Monday afterwards.  And once just before his birthday his junior year.  Basically, what pneumothorax is is that there are weak spots on your lung that develop blisters like places that fill up with air.  That in itself would be no problem but when they pop, that is pneumothorax.  The air then flows into the chest cavity and prevents the lung from fully inflating.

The first time, they only had to cut a slit in his side and put in a tube to drain his chest cavity and he was home in three days.  Of course, they couldn't put him under while cutting him because his breathing capabilities have already been compromised.  So they gave him morphine but he was still obviously in agony as they did the procedure and he was moved.

The second time, they did the same thing, but it wasn't enough and they had to go further.  They had to scrape off the weak spots on his lung and this time they did put him under.  Both of these procedures are some of the most painful because its not like an arm that you just don't use when it is hurt.  You can't just stop breathing so the pain is almost constant. We could tell and I think that the rest of us cried more for him then he did himself. 

This story describes how to do it for someone who is perhaps trying to learn.  It describes it in a way that I had never thought of it before.  I have always been the one with family or friends under the knife.  Even myself a bit for wisdom teeth.  This describes it in a way that I never thought of and I could almost relate to despite my repulsion of the topic.  It is not something I like talking of, reading of, or hearing of but he almost makes it bearable.