Thank you so much for your post and experience with Dr. Pearl. I saw him in June and last week. I have have been trying PT for almost 3 months now. I was hoping to avoid surgery, but haven't had much luck decompressing the thoracic outlet with PT. PT has offered more range of motion, and less neck pain, but not enough to be a good for of pain management to have quality of life.

I've read so many stories where the surgery actually took about a year for complete recovery so was very surprised to hear Dr. Pearl say 10-12 week recovery. After reading your post, I am more confident about the surgery and his skills.

Have you noticed less pain in your hand/arm? Did you have pain in your armpit/chest area as well? Did you have a pec minor release as well? That is being recommended in addition to the rib resection and the scalenectomy. I was curious how that affects recovery.

I can't tell again how thankful I am for your post and detail of events. Best to you in your recovery and please continue to post your experience in the weeks ahead. It is so very helpful to others who haven't gone through this experience.