cycling with one lung

fatfreddy

Hi

I have a bowel cancer secondary in my left lung. Because of the position it means the whole lung will need to be removed. The consultant couldn't comment on how it would affect my cycling - he was pretty dismissive of a triathlete I mentioned who was still competing with one lung. But I'm no triathlete - nor athlete for that matter. Just an ordinary bike rider.

Anyone been through this and still riding?

thanks

FF

(also posted on the ctc forum)

ut_och_cykla

Goodness - that's awful - I'm at a bit of a loss what to write!
I hope your operation goes well and that you can find some kind of fitness afterwards but clearly it is major surgery to recover from and only half capacity breathing wise. I do know a guy who lost half his lung function (and large chunks of one lung) following an industrial acident who continued to run marathons back in the late 80s but I'm not sure thats comparable with actually losing a whole lung. Normal bike riding may well be possible after recovering from the op.
Anyway - best wishes - and dont give up!

fatfreddy

thanks.

Perhaps I should add that I had a bowel resection and a liver resection in 2006. Took me a while to get back to riding regularly. Last year I completed the Hadrian's Wall route and I cycle to work every day.

I know plenty of people who've had bowel surgery and are back to riding with no problems. But the lung is unknown territory for me - and I wasn't that impressed by the consultant suggesting my quality of life would be low with one lung.

I can't be the only person in this position.

FF

Headhuunter

Who's the triathlete you mentioned? Try contacting him, he may be glad to offer some inspiration and thoughts on the situation and may also know others.

woodford2barbican

good luck.

ives.

There's a story here about a cyclist with one lung and one leg:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/48 ... etail.html
He says:
"There are a lot of things you can do. You've got to fight back. You've got to overcome,"

That sound like what you're doing...fighting back.
Good luck to you mate.

Gotte

I'm no expert, but being that cycling is actually a really efficient form of transport, I imagine that so long as you don't go to extremes where you need to saturate your blood with oxygen, you'll still be able to ride. How that translates to your riding, now, I don't know. I tour, and find that I tend to take it easy and am never really out of breath. And I imagine that that is where your problems re one lung will arise - you will obviously be at a disadvantage in that you can only absorb half the oxygen you used to be able to, but from what I understand, we tend never to use the full capacity of our lungs unless really pushing it, so you might find that certain breathing techniques may equal it out, and so long as you're not going hell for leather, you'll still be able to ride happily.

All the best to you, friend, and good look.

fatfreddy

great - thanks folks, that's very helpful.

FF

Crapaud

Fatfreddy, I'm not sure how accurately I remember the details, but a Canadian I cycled across Canada with, IIRC, only had 1/3 rd lung capacity. He wasn't the fittest or fasted, but he had no problems until he tried to sustain a fast speed over a long distance. He completed the tour, 4700 miles, 90 miles / day, and was talking about joining the Quebec Cycling Club to do TTs.

I'd expect that there'll be some form of cycling that you'd be able to do post op. Serious, competitive cycling's not likely, but you could still set your own personal challenges.

Best of luck.

ut_och_cykla

think Armstrong twittered abt a guy with one lung who ascended Everest. Googling brings up all kinds of chat forums abt people in a similar situation to you. All the best!

Stevie2wheels

Hi. I'm really sorry to hear about your predicament. I sincerely hope you recover well.

I'm not respiratory expert but I have do have good experience as trauma nurse and can comment on my professional opinion.

As you would expect your lung capacity will be reduced 50%. But there is no reason why after some recovery time you can't adapt to cycling with one lung. Your biggest problem is going to be recovery time and the lack of time actually riding. But once you recover and get back on the bike there is no reason why you can't ride at a reasonable pace with one lung. Your remaining lung will adapt and enlarge over time to provide your body with the necessary O2 it needs. Your remaining lung will increase the capacity by increasing the size and efficientcy of it's alveoli. Lungs are like any part the body that's used for excercise your remaining will increase in capacity and strength. Migual Indurain had a lung capacity 2.5 the capacity of an average man!



I know it's easy for me say, but please stay positive and focused. And I wish you the best of luck.

Best regards,
Stevie.

ride_whenever

It will take you a while to adjust, as others have mentioned, with a bit of re-conditioning you shouldn't lose too much of your cruising pace, but it's going to balls up your VO2 max :?

Sounds like a really bummer, but chin up and keep plugging away at it!

chrisw12

I had a lung collapse a few years ago (cant' spell proper name for it!) so was effectively down to one lung. I was able to do a 1 hour time trial (stupidly and in some pain!) a bit slower, but it wasn't that bad.

I think you'll be ok, the exercise will probably be more beneficial, though short hard efforts will probably be a challenge.