I have been 'stalking' this site for almost a year, since November 9, 2012 when my school nurse pulled me out of class and took me to the ER. A few days prior I woke up with my right arm slightly red and it felt like I slept on it. I took it easy for a few days hoping that would solve the problem. Instead, it got worse and the symptoms became more intense. I started to see little bruise areas showing up, my arm became sore to touch or raise up, and it started to swell. By November 9th I showed my coworkers my arm; since they both coached high school sports they had seen a lot of injuries. Both thought it was a torn muscle. I asked for the school nurse to come to my classroom and take a look at my arm. She showed up and immediately requested a substitute teacher for me and drove me up to the ER. They diagnosed me with a blood clot going from my brachial to my subclavian veins and I was admitted to the hospital for 3 days till my INR was correct. I am an athletic 31 year old female. I teach art and enjoy backpacking and gardening. I am a non-smoker, don't take birth control, or fit any other criteria for getting a blood clot so young. I live in a small town and I am learning that many doctors here are unfamiliar with TOS and because of that I was sent home on blood thinners and a check up with my GP. After switching to an internist and receiving 3 more ultrasounds due to ongoing symptoms, I finally received a referral to a vascular surgeon (I don't have any blood disorders that would have caused the clot). He spent some time talking to me and agreed with my research that I had tos. Even though I have always been an active individual, it has only been in the past 3 years I have started using my upper body. I bought a 100 year old house and have been renovating it myself. All the pieces finally fit together. Throw on top of that poor posture and I seem to fit the description of vascular tos to a 'T'. I have seen an orthopedic surgeon, neurologist, countless imaging, and physical therapy including manual manipulation, my surgeon agreed to the surgery. Contrast MRIs showed vein occlusion bilaterally when both arms are raised. The University of Utah will not do a rib resection on my left side until it gets a blood clot as well. I can't imagine living life wondering when the next clot will happen once I am off of Lovenox so I made an appointment in Denver to see Dr. Sanders and his associates. Recovery is harder than I expected it to be. I know most of you can understand how isolated you start to feel going through this. It takes so long to get the diagnoses, I was lucky it only took a year. My mother died of a pulmonary embolism due to a broken ankle, so this adventure has been very anxiety causing. I wake up feeling decent and by the end of the day my arm is throbbing pain radiating from my arm pit and circling around my shoulder from top to bottom and radiating into my elbow, down my forearm and tingles into my pinky. I feel distanced from my friends because I can't do much with them and I don't want interact when I hurt this much. It's no win. I can say that this has caused just as much pain mentally and emotionally as it has physically. To go from a 6 day a week hiking routine to not being allowed to lift more than 2 lbs. is a struggle.