So I am in Denver now. I have the pec minor scheduled for Thursday.

I met Dr. Sanders first, he did a block (lidocane) on the left side for the pec minor first, overall I had about 20% symptom relief from this. Then he did the left side for the scalene muscle, this gave me a 50-70% relief in symptoms. Based on this, I will be doing the scalenectomy and first rib resection as soon as the schedule permits - February or March.

Anyway, for those who were wondering, Dr. Sanders is real, alive, and still working. However, he only does diagnostics and is also present for the surgery - Dr. Annest is the surgeon. For those deciding what kind of surgery to have, he look at page 182 of his book - then flip roughly two pages, for success rates of the surgeries.

I have had TOS for ten years, so what i have experienced as pain, I describe as "achy" or "painful stretching" not generally a sharp pain. With the blocks having the pain be gone was weird, it was as if I was missing a body part or something, I am so used to the pain, it has become a part of me.

Next I went to Dr. Annest, he had a very thick file on me, I had my doctors send basically everything about me for the past 10 years. Based on my file, and my language it was apparently pretty evident to Dr. Annest, that I knew what I was there for and what I wanted. He gave me a thorough exam and agreed to do the pec minor surgery as scheduled. He also went over the risks and possible complications and let me know that it was possible that the surgery would do anything for me.

Anyway, I am feeling pretty confident in their abilities, hopefully all goes well. If at the end of it, I only have 50% improvement in my symptoms, it will be worth it.