Hi JennyH,

I haven't had my first rib removed. I had thrombolysis and angioplasty. The venogram showed a lot of vein scaring. My vein closed back up after a few days. It did seem to help my collateral veins. I had some collateral veins that were having issues. I've only been diagnosed with venous TOS or Paget-Schroetter syndrome. My vascular surgeon talked of the next step of having a vein bypass with a vein out of my leg along with the first rib removal. He said it was very uncertain surgery and he didn't recommend it at this point. I do have some weakness in my arm and some periodic tingling. I generally don't use my left arm very much. He told me that he's had one patent that the operation failed on and there really isn't very many case studies that indicate how successful the operation may be. We did talk about Dr. Thompson and I have read that Thompson uses larger veins from donors that they keep frozen for just this type of surgery.

I did find this article about a Dr. Thompson patient that the bypass failed on and he is just living with it and his colletarls are working for him.

*edit*

Right now, I plan on getting as healthy as possible and see how I do for a while. I have to take anticoagulants for at least a year, maybe for life. Feel free to ask any questions you have. Thanks for your response.