mucker, honey, you are doing just fine. if you reread ihtos' post i think you will find that what she is telling us is that it turns out she did not have TOS to begin with!!!

so the surgery doc sanders performed on her was not even, technically, a TOS surgery, but an outpatient procedure for what she DOES have, which is a condition called 'pec minor syndrome'.

OK, we need to make her change her poster name to IHPMS!!! the girl is an imposter, folks!

and i think if you ask johannakat how her FIRST first rib resection went... well, she might tell you she was feeling waaaay worse than you are feeling right about now, mucker... she was due for a break on that second one being a little bit easier to bounce back from, believe you me.

but still, i could swear she posted somewhere that she overdid it over the long weekend and is paying for it dearly, if it makes ya feel any better!!! hahaha

my point is that we are all so different. different ages, different types of TOS, different occupations, different surgeons, all sorts of factors go into it - when was it dx'd and by whom, did you get PT, was it the right kind and for how long, what is your emotional/mental/spiritual state, do you have a good support system, pain management program, etc. and on and on and on...

really does no good to compare, one to the other. i know it's hard not to, though! you are making such a great contribution to this forum and you have a wonderful fighting spirit, barb. i know you will do very well with your recovery from this very difficult surgery. and your surgeon is tops, you chose well.

this is not an easy thing to go through. you are strong. you won't necessarily know for quite a while what your true results are either (damnit! i hate to wait, too!) - but the real comparison, the one that means something... will be between how you were BEFORE vs. how you are in like maybe a year AFTER THIS IS ALL OVER.

it's natural for you to be feeling like you've been hit by a mack truck right now. that's a quote from dr. ahn, i think (johanna's cutter!).

you just hang in there and do what you're doing. you are amazing.

alison
"Be Brave"