I am in the South Bay and have seen both Dr Lee and Dr Avery.

I am 51 and have TOS and degenerative spinal issues. I have had two cervical fusions C5-7, (the first one failed). I used a different surgeon who was not in the area for the second surgery. In the last five years I have had the two spine surguries, both shoulders have torn as if I was a professional pitcher due to the TOS and the damage caused by lack of blood flow etc. My orthopedic surgeon told me that my ligiments and tendons were shredded, that he hadn't seen anything like that on a woman who by outwards appearances looks healthy.

It was at the kind pushing of my orthopedic and neurosurgeon that I find a surgeon who understood TOS. Not an easy thing to do.

In summary Dr Lee and his staff did a bunch of tests and then Dr Lee came in and told me my body was already too damaged for him to help me, that I was not a surgery candidate. That I would have needed to have come to see him before I was 40. I left devastated.

After a day or so I got over the emotional blast of Dr. Lee's comment and remembered everything I had read on TOS and how most people do not become sympomatic until they are in their 40's. I also thought to myself why the heck did I go to a Stanford Doctor? My experiences with them have been awful. Being marked for a nerve block on the wrong side and having to stop them. Being told by a Dr who did a CT mylogram that there was nothing he could do for me and yet the mylogram showed my fusion had failed and my neck was unstable. Stanford in my opinion and from my experiences is running on past reputation. Also if I needed to see Dr. Lee before I was 40, why make the appt and run all the tests that they billed at an outrageous amount of money?

Dr Avery on the other hand spent over two hours with me. Going over all my symptoms and for the first time in years making me feel like I wasn't loosing my mind. He also said that surgery was the last option and I wan't there yet. That surgery was tending to make people worse, not better. He just moved from Sutter health to Palo Alto medical group.

There is one more doctor in Salinas who is now listed under TOS. That is recent and I don't remember where I saw it. I do know it was on a TOS list.

What I can tell you is that by a huge margin UCSF is the premier medical facility in Northern California now. The doctors that are listed in the sticky are no longer there but getting into their system would be a good start. They have imaging equipment other facilities in the area do not have etc.

Good luck.