Originally Posted by dsikma@msn.com

I am now 10 weeks post op. Thank you for all the great information and words encouragement. I have numbness along side of face, neck, chest, back of arm and tingling and numbness to hand and fingers. The pain is pretty much along all of those lines and shoulder blade. My physical therapist is frustrated as well because of the long thoracic nerve being 'dead' and says it will be a long road of baby steps. He is going to start water therapy to 'get things moving', but is concerned that if we aren't able to move better things will get 'gummed up' with scar tissue. He has also suggested future tens use. After being told by my doctor that it is simply too early, I asked if there was anything else to help with the pain and the continued nerve involvement. They have started me on the lidocaine patch. It has helped me some at night with the sleep....I have been able to sleep for 2-3 hour spans and that is a Godsend, but, you can only wear it for 12 hours and off 12 hours, so as soon as I take it off during the day it hits me hard! However, they did something so that is good....any ideas?