Quote:
Originally Posted by 343v343
I think anyone who has considered or done the surgery knows/knew the possible risks and complications. I have personally read every bit of literature I can get my hands on. I will still feel quite scared if that is indeed my only option left (the surgery). But I am simply saying it's refreshing to hear of some who have attained improved quality of life. *Whatever that means to them, respectively.
If every single story were negative, it would make the decision that much more depressing and scary. I went through each page of this forum, going back 5+ years and PM'd everyone I could find who had surgery. Was curious as to their results. Of course, many didn't sustain their relief, but it was a little more comforting to see more than I expected who actually did. *With NTOS, even - many years later.
Obviously from a pure statistical standpoint, the odds / prognosis are still poor. But when hope is in short supply, I'll take all I can get.
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15 months post op. Significant improvement from before. Still have some middle scalene, pec minor tightness (no pec release done with surgery), and a little bit of scar tissue, but I would say I'm 90% improved. Just gotta keep stretching and do manual work on the scar tissue. Surgery was with Dr. Lee at Stanford. He's very straight-forward and to the point (he can seem like he's rushing appointments when talking to you at times), but he's a pretty skilled surgeon.
I personally know four other athletes who have had this surgery in college (all friends of mine). I consulted with all of them before I had surgery of my own. Two went on to compete better in their sport than before they first had symptoms of TOS. One got back to right around where they were before they had symptoms. One never got back to being a big contributor and dealt with some nerve issues for a few months (brachial plexus and LTN caused some pretty severe winging). Overall, however, that individual has since improved probably 60-70% from where they were before surgery.
So... all in all, including myself, I know five people who have improved (four of them very significantly).
Find the best surgeon and be incredibly disciplined with your post-surgical regiment. I started PT and tissue breakdown pretty soon afterward. That can help, too.