I was actually given a breathing meter by my Post-Op nurse. She scared my wife and told her I needed to do 4 sets of 8 each day for 10 days after the surgery to prevent me from getting pneumonia. It had a tube that I was supposed to suck on with deep breaths and when I did it pushed up a piece of plastic which measured my intake. Problem was, in the first few days, when I did this it aggravated my nausea and once I was given the Magnesium Citrate by my doctor on day 3, all the shoulder pain and problems breathing were gone. Needles to say, I didn't use it much and I am just fine. But I feel for you, until I was able to get it out, I was absolutely miserable. Hang in there.