what kind of surgery did you have? did you remove the tumor or part of the lung?
i too had a carcinoid tumor 3.5 years ago that was as big as a quarter and was sitting atop and blocking my bronchial tube eventually collapsing my right lung. i thought i had Penumonia the way i felt for 3 weeks before the collapse.
to make a long story short,i had a history of coughing up blood for 15 years. there's another name for it but it's basically chronic bronchitis.
so after the biopsy and found it was not maliginant,i had my whole right lung removed---since it had been rendered useless.
after hurting for 3 months from that recovery, it took another 4 months to get used to breathing with one lung.now my left lung is better than than the both of them before the operation.i have 49% breathing capacity
in the left one whereas before i had 72% in both.
and yes as you said,stairs---arrrgh---i hate'em. i take the elevators and escalators always at work. when i bend over to pickup stuff off the floor i can pinch my wind off and have to catch my breath. same with carrying 40lb speakers around(i'm a singer/musician--still). i have to stop and catch my breath after a coupla trips to the SUV.
other than that i'm fine and love riding my bike. and it does feel good after i catch my breath.makes the blood flow.
hope this helps...jw
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