Preoperative deep breathing exercises and coughing and sputum excretion training in thoracic surgery are often neglected by patients and their families, but in fact, adequate preoperative respiratory preparation is one of the effective means to ensure rapid postoperative recovery. Especially, postoperative esophageal cancer is often combined with laryngeal nerve injury resulting in hoarseness and inability to form an effective cough (i.e. coughing up sputum in the trachea and lungs), and the incidence of lung infection is very high due to inevitable reflux and misaspiration after esophageal cancer surgery. Patients preparing for open-heart surgery are urged to strengthen preoperative deep breathing exercises and coughing and sputum excretion training. During my training in Japan, I was deeply impressed by the almost demanding requirements for respiratory preparation abroad. It is an ironclad requirement that smoking patients should quit smoking for 2 weeks before considering surgery, and it is impossible for anyone to go beyond this requirement. We should know that the environmental pollution in China is much more serious than Japan, especially the domestic leading PM02.5 pollution in Zhengzhou, and PM2.5 has the greatest impact on the respiratory tract. Henan Cancer Hospital Thoracic Surgery Department Li Jindong So, to recover well after surgery, cough, cough, cough again!