I was seen by Dr. Aubuchon a pain doctor at Barnes Jewish hospital about 6 weeks ago. He did a test where he gave me a shot in the left scalene muscle to see if it affected my TOS symptoms. My pain level went from a 7 to a 4 for 4 hours. That is how long the medicine that he gave me was suppose to relax the muscle.

He also referred me to Dr. Thompson at the Center for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome at Barnes Jewish hospital.

I had an appointment with Dr. Thompson 9/28 and he decided that I needed re-surgery on my left side. He wants to remove the rest of the scalene muscle and clean up the scar tissue from the nerve. I am waiting for the Veterans Administration to approve the surgery.

I had another appointment with Dr. Aubuchon 10/3 and he gave me botox shots in both left and right scalene muscles. He said that it should give me some relief.

It has been over 48 hours since I had the botox shots, and it kind of feels like my journey through my TOS is starting to backward. I am starting to get the TOS symptoms that I had a couple of years ago and my shoulder and neck muscles are starting to ache and almost feel like they are cramping up. It feels like when you are tense or working real hard and then when you finally relax, you can feel the pain in your muscles as they try to relax.

I hope that my symptoms continue to recede back until they are either gone or almost gone.

I will keep you all updated with my treatment and how I am doing.