i am so glad you found us. what part of the country are you in? do you mind telling us the name of your surgeon and what his or her specialty is (vascular, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery)?

it seems the majority of the top TOS surgeons are vascular guys, but not always the case. at any rate, it does sound like the type of TOS you have is vascular in nature.

and the good news is, your type of TOS as i am sure you know has much higher surgical success rates!

still, it is nothing to fool around with and i hope that you are going with one of the top docs if you are able to. i mean no disrespect of course. it's just that TOS is such a tricky byatch, katherine! and the thoracic outlet so teeny tiny; you really need someone who has done hundreds, if not thousands, of these types of surgeries in their career.

not just one every once in a while. or read about it in a book once.

doctors can be so arrogant (or me so jaded). i just want to be sure you are in the very best hands possible.

one thing i know for certain and that is you have found the very best on-line support group going and one of the best sources of information, too.

so again i am so glad you have found us and we have met you.

stay close. we are right here for you, katherine. this is a scary thing...but we'll get through it together, OK.

alison