I am 5 weeks out today from a left rib resection.

I did not have cervie ribs, just the first rib taken out.

1 week i was in la la land...the day my drain was takee out i started to feel human but remained on very heavy pain meds (more than double what i was on pre surgery) for another week or so, then tapered to Heavy pain meds st 2.5 weeks or so (about double my presurgery meds) and am just starting now at 5 weeks to approach my presurgery pain med levels now, but still a bit higher.

so, take that as an indication... I had some soreness along the side of my neck, I assume that your scalenes were cut (they were previously attached to your rib) and therefore the rest of your neck muscles are working to learn to stabilize your neck without them.

I was told that if things went well, i should be ready for PT at 3 weeks post op. I was pretty ready. I am told that I have had quite a good recovery by some on the board, but others have certainly recovered faster.

I think post op pain is directly related to how much pain you had pre-op.

It is so personal that it would be difficult for me to give you an absolute answer, so just take my story with a grain of salt or two or three....

DOn't forget to request a copy of your op report, and did your surgeon give you any indication of how bad you were relative to other surgeries he has done? For instance, mine told me that my nerve inflammation was in the top 10% of those he had seen, all other stuff was typical. He told me it woudl take at elast a month for that nerve to start to calm down. It isn't completely calmed yet, but it is better than directly post op. I have a lot of point pain right wehre my second rib is, bc they are also takign on the brunt of what my first rib used to do. Your body will definitely need time to stabilize.

take it easy and SLOW!!!! I remember you felt quite bad before surgery. Improvement is all incremental.

good luck to you and keep being very super gentle with yourself.

Johanna