franktuttle

I saw some other posts in this forum about riding after lung surgery, however those posts were pretty old so I thought I would share my story in the case where someone may derive some benefit. In 1994 I had a tumor removed from my lungs and the surgeon also remove 2 lobes. I was not a bike rider at the time. I am also 57 now and 200 lbs. I have always been active (mostly team sports and weight lifting) and in reasonably good shape. About 5 years ago I started riding a road bike so I don't have any before reference metrics. I can share what I experience now in comparison to those riders that I ride with. My biggest problem is climbing, I run out of air very quickly. I have to significantly reduce my cadence to preserve oxygen. I have climbed GMR in southern California albeit at a pretty slow pace. All out power surges last about 20 seconds and then a very quick increase in both heart rate and breathing. Every time my breathing gets taxed, my cycling power vanishes. I can put a fair level of power to the pedals, but not for very long. I generally ride at about a cadence from 40 to maybe 80 in order to make the oxygen last longer. I find that higher cadence burns oxygen although it does preserve the legs. On flats and down-hills I can generally keep up with the other riders who are my age. Climbing hills however are really tough and taxing. I can climb up to up to 6% for many miles ok - just not fast. Up to 10% grades to a mile or less and then my legs are shot. About 10% takes all of my oxygen and I can only climb those for pretty short distances. I am not trying to peddle a product here but I have found that my riding at significantly lower cadences is hard on my leg muscles and I have found that a product called SportLegs helps me a lot. My friends who ride at normal (80-100) cadences don't see any benefit from taking it.
I hope this message finds someone who is in the same boat as me and perhaps we can share what works and what doesn't for our unusual circumstance.

Regards

qcpmsame 

Frank,
1. Welcome to BF and especially to the 50+ Forum. You are in good company here with many of us on the recovery after surgeries list.

2. The mere fact that you are here with your family, and riding fairly well, is something to celebrate, well done, sir, well done.

3. Not sure how many or which members here have had serious lung surgery, seems there were/are a few that have posted about their battles with that particular recovery. I'm sure we have someone that can share their tips and problems on riding with reduced lung capacity from surgery. Question, was there any residual damage outside of the tumor, or from the tumor's removal, that causes COPD at some level? From your riding outside of climbing it sounds like you are a fairly strong rider, considering what you have been through. Just recovering from major surgery takes a lot out of you, I am familiar with that aspect of riding after 16 of the things in 10 years, kind of takes the wind out of your sails, not to tax the humor NO lung surgery in my background,other than having excess fluids drained with a chest tube after surgery #15 . Just being opened up and having anesthesia taxes your system highly.

If you are at this level after what time you have been riding is there much chance of increasing your remaining lung capacity with workouts or training specific to climbing and your aerobic abilities? You probably have addressed this with your doctors, just curious is all.

Glad to have you join us here, some pictures of your bicycle are mandatory here, we love pictures of bicycles for some reason. Stick around and ride lots, ride safe.

Bill

franktuttle

Bill, thankyou for the nice welcome.

I dont appear to have any lingering issues related to the surgery like COPD.

As far as improving lung capacity exercises - i dont have anything there either. The most significant affect on my riding is directly related to the decisions i make while riding such as when to go fast, when to cut back, how aggressive to take on a hill, etc. I do need to drink a lot of fluids probably due to higher breathing demands. I also take a few asperins before each ride to thin my blood and put less stress on my heart. I always ride with a heart rate monitor.
I just need to ride downhill with the wind at my back .

Frank

qcpmsame 

Frank,
The other forumite that had a total single lung removal is shyonelung (not a joke, or trying to be a smart ass, its her screen name) and she is a pretty strong rider from what I have read here and in the Road Forum. You might look her profile up, I'll give her a heads up on your question since you can't use the private message feature yet. I believe she had a tumor, also but not completely sure.

Bill

shyonelung

Hey Frank,

Bill asked me over here. I had a tumor removed from my lung in 1990, along with my entire right lung. I've heard it's sometimes easier to have the whole lung removed instead of the lobes for some reason but I don't know medically if that's true.

My experience is fairly new, as far as cycling is concerned. I'm a few years younger than you (just turned 50) and a serious cyclist for less than 2 years. Most I've done so far in one ride is 2000 feet of climbing. Not sure what grades but I've done a few pretty good climbs though none that are long, extended climbs yet.

Riding a lot is important in terms of building stamina for the climbs as I'm sure you know but what helped me more was a combination of losing weight (I've dropped 70 pounds in the last three years) and serious cross-training. The weight loss is self explanatory but the cross-training (a combination of resistance exercises, weight-lifting, squats and more squats, running, sit ups, push ups, boxing, Kettle bells and any number of balance and balance strength workouts really, truly changes the game (i believe for any cyclist).

Before I committed to the workout regimen, I would run out of air and get tired on climbs. About 4 weeks after I started, I started to feel COMPLETELY different on the bike. I realized the problem was in my legs, not my lung. Even now, when I tire, it's not my air capacity, it's the days when my legs don't want to cooperate, which happens I think when you get to our age. :-)

And one small thing I've found really works though it might be in my head: at the start of a big climb, I deliberately force air out of my lung by blowing out. Kind of like you do before you get ready to do a rep with heavy weights. It seems to give me an extra oomph as I climb. Like I'm able to pull more air in.

im still uncertain how far I can go with just the one lung or how high up. I've written to various cycling coaches, doctors and experts and have yet to find a study of athletes with less than two lungs. If anyone knows of such a study or a program, I'd be interested in findng out about it. I'm at a point where I'd like to try to push myself to bigger heights, literally.

that's my middle-of-the-night two cents. If I think of anything more, I'll let you know. Ride on!

Rehab

Frank,
I have suffered from an airway disease caused from a rare fungus growth causing 6 strictures (constrictions) both internal and external of the lungs. I have had 13 dilation procedures to expand out my airway and in 2012 I had two complete blockages causing total loss of consciousness and near death experiences. Finally after a total of 9 years suffering from this condition, the doctors have concluded that I have a rare leak causing lymphatic fluid to enter my airway and causing a severe mucus build up which cannot be coughed out because of the strictures. I am able to control this situation by following a rigid diet which consists of a maximum fat intake of less than 5 grams per day.

Bicycling has actually helped to improve my condition by helping me to cough out residual mucus during my workouts. I get very winded during long climbs or long rides into the wind but last fall, a two mile ride was very difficult. I now have been riding over 100 miles per week and last week was 175 miles. I do not care how fast I ride, lately been averaging about 14, or what others may think about my pace. Every time I see others who are more blessed with good respiratory systems, I think back to the days I was laying in the hospital on 40 liters of pure oxygen and barely able to maintain a 95 spo2.

Where I live in Illinois, we don't have really long hills but more roller coaster type which I am able to climb without major issues. When I do get into a very long climb, I get very winded and have stopped and walked to the top on one occasion while riding the tandem earlier this year. As my legs have gotten stronger, my endurance tolerance has improved but will never be as good as many others. My personal goal is to ride a century next year but it may take
6+ hours to do so.

The nice thing about cycling is if you need to, slow down and just enjoy the ride.

JanMM

Very inspiring stories here! I guess with two working lungs and unrestricted airways I have no excuses not to work/ride harder/farther than I do. Most of us take breathing for granted, but it's not a given.
Keep riding!

Looigi

FWIW: Respiration and the sensation of needing to breath harder is due to the need to clear CO2 from the blood rather than the lack of O2. The body has no conscious awareness of lack of O2. You can breath an inert atmosphere devoid of O2 (or a rarefied atmosphere at very high altitude) and there is no sensation of lacking O2 or needing to breath harder. You just become light headed, lose the ability to think, pass out, and then die. This is what sometimes happens in aircraft where the loss of pressurization isn't dealt with fast enough by the pilots and they pass out, as was the recent case of the flight from NY to FL that over flew FL and Cuba, ran out of fuel and crashed off Jamaica.

franktuttle

Hi Shyonelung,

So do you just have the two lobes on the side with the heart? Also are you in the Los Angeles area (I am in Irvine, CA)?
I have the original 2 lobes on the heart side and one lobe on my right side.

Frank

franktuttle

Thanks JanMM!!!

franktuttle

Hi Rehab,

Thank you for joining this thread. I wish you many more miles. I also would like to do a century someday. Who knows - maybe we can do the same .

Regards,

Frank

franktuttle

Hi Looigi,

Thank you for sharing. I have done some reading and I completely get it now so I thank you for pointing me in the educated direction. I always just assumed and never thought about air vs CO2.

Regards,

Frank

qcpmsame 

I'll ping Shyonelung for you, she isn't in the 50+ all the time.

Bill

shyonelung

sorry I missed this. I have just the one lung now. But when I first had the surgery, I was in my late 20s and the remaining lung (left) expanded as I got back into shape and pushed my heart toward the right side. I lived in Santa Monica until 2006 but now I'm up in Sonoma Wine Country. The breathing is MUCH easier up here. I just did my first metric century btw. :-)

franktuttle

Wow - you must be very close to minimum O2 and CO2 requirement processing capability for the body at rest. Great job on the longer rides!

shyonelung

I don't know where I am with my O2, CO2 processing. I think I might get it checked out though. I did 37 miles today. My legs weren't there but my lung felt great. Don't think I went over 155 bpm HR even on the big climb.

vic303

Check out this blog: Uneasy-Rider | Cyclist and lung cancer survivor Bud Baker's blog

Bud is a long term lung cancer survivor and cyclist.

Rehab

I am so impressed with the posts in this thread. It is very inspirational to read about others who have overcome respiratory conditions to ride. Thank you Frank for starting this thread.