Originally Posted by 184jones

Well done! having read some bits on this website, it seemss the the post operative recovery can beinfluenced by what sort of TOS and rib resection you had and by the level of fitness before the op

I am 7 weeks post op for a rib resection and scalenectomy and its a bit of a roller coaster. I only had 10 days from initial symptom & diagnosis to the actual operation as mine was arterial and had already had a blood clot in my hand.
It was a whirlwind of tests, specialists and second opinions and almost wish I had more time before the operation to prepare mentally. I went from being quite fit (still need to shed a few kilos!)with a cold, numb finger to the operation and completely imoble and that was the real shock.

The operation was abouto 4.5 hours and the first few days after the op were agony with shoulder pain and breathing problems. My diaphram had come right up my chest due to nerve paralysis adn was extremely uncomfortable. I take my hat off to all those people who were discharged after one or two nights, I was in hospital for over a week and had physio twice a day from day 2. I was on morphine for 3 days which gave me migraines and for the first 2 weeks after the operation i was unable to sleep for longer than 2 hours at a stretch.

Things do improve, I have been lucky with complete home help ( we live in Singapore) and so I think my recovery has speeded up as I have been able to rest as much as I want.

7 weeks down the track, still having pain in my elbow and this last week periodic coldness of my middle finger (this is not painful just irritating). It seems that the pec muscle may be pinching as this is very tight and painful. I have been back to my surgeon who has put me on muscle relaxants to see if it is truly the cause ( I think this is why, Singaporean surgeons are great but not at explaining things).

I have begun to exercise again, managed 20 mins on the runner today and am feeling very chuffed with myself.

My scar has healed really well, if anyone is contemplating the surgery its worth asking if a plastic surgeon can close up. Its not much cost in the relative scheme of things and because of the location of the surgery lots of insurance companies will pay for it.

I have been shocked by the total cost of the whole procedure and thank god that we had great medical over. So far my bill has come to approx SGD $60,000 ($48,000USD aprrox) and that is without any of the physio which they estimate for another $5000SGD.

I had Arterial TOS so there was no option to not have surgery but I have realised I will rpobably take the full 3-6 months to fully recover