Have your doctors not given you any idea of when you in your particular case and given your job description, should return to work? I will be honest with you below, and this is not meant to be sarcastic or mean, just the plain truth here, ok?

How could we on the Net tell you such a personal, fact based decision, without knowing your work habits, expectations, your health, or how you developed TOS? I mean, we can GUESS for you, and maybe some can say when they returned to work, but again, that would be a real CRAP-shoot. Emphasis on CRAP.

Every single TOSer is actually an individual and I've seen everything from people feeling good enough to go out to dinner after a few days, to taking months to get over the surgery. Have you discussed with your doc HOW they are going to go in, and what the various risks are? (My surgery went just fine - no complications from the surgery itself.)

I developed my neurogenic TOS from the computer. Hours of overwork, bad ergonomics, but also something in my body which didn't like the constant repetitive movements. People who get TOS are UNIQUE and this is a rare injury.

I live in horrific pain. I have NO life. I worked another year after this started - I modified some things, but basically still tried to bill 70 hours per week for my law firm. When I say horrific pain, I can say that there have been many times I have contemplated suicide - how to do it, where, what I need, all of the details, only for the reason that the pain goes higher and higher, never ends, I go to sleep with it, I dream in it, I wake with it.

There is no cure or treatment left for me. The docs can't help me. I've seen 30 docs now.

IF I were to have a surgery that helped it enough so that I could return to work, WHY would I ever return to computer work in the same exact fashion as I got ill from? A big part of healing would be understanding HOW you got sick, and finding a totally different kind of job that would not trigger this all over again. This is YOUR LIFE now, not just your income and status. I know, because I made the mistake of working for another year (because I didn't know I had TOS, I had a bad hand ortho guy telling me it was just over use), and then I developed RSD, fibromyalgia and now autonomic neuropathy. (Please read up on all of these, you need to know what you are risking or facing, and how serious this condition is in relation to any other injury. I have heard attorneys and doctors say, "TOS - oh that guy's life is over, there's nothing that can be done...Whether we agree with that is another matter, but this is the WORST of the work injuries and despised by the insurance adjusters as the highest costing injury.)

I've had neuro TOS or brachial plexus neuritis since 2002, stopped working 2003, lost my house by the beach, lost a $100K plus income with promises of much more rather quickly if I could have hung in there, so I am no slacker or lazy or malcontent. I was a winner, a fighter, ambitious and capable of other jobs than my one as an attorney and Pro Tem judge. (I actually wanted to run for political offices when I hit 50.)

So I warn you that your question implies that you have not fully grasped the invasive and potentially live-ruining aspects of TOS, extra rib or not - IF you are lucky enough to have a good outcome from your surgery, be ever so careful as to what you do to your body afterwards.

I had some benefits from surgery. However, 1 1/2 years, despite being bedridden now, and fighting for my health with all of my power, all of the symptoms pre-surgery are now back, plus more of "autonomic neuropathy." Read up on that one, as basically you feel like you can't breathe, your digestion stops working, etc. This is very scary stuff.

So to your question - returning to work after surgery is a LOT more than just a question of how many weeks, etc. Your main goal should be figuring out how you developed TOS, listening to your body after surgery, finding proper Edgelow or Butler PT, and what modifications you will need to do after surgery to your working situation. Many people voluntarily stop working altogether, or, find work that is not using a computer or upper body in a repetitive way.

I hope you take this warning with the good intent with which it is imparted. Please, please after surgery, be careful. What you do could affect your life, literally, for the rest of it, and all aspects of it.

There is at least one person here who thought she was cured from her TOS, but after a long driving trip, she triggered the TOS injury all over again. Maybe she will post also.

I don't know what pain level you live with so far, but my guess is you aren't too far into TOS, and don't forget that you can trigger RSD and fibromyalgia and goodness knows what kinds of rheumatological diseases by pushing yourself after this major surgery.

Good luck Roger and please, continue to visit here, learn here, read all you can about this rare and complicated and very misunderstood condition, and share you concerns. We do care very much.