Hi all,

So to continue, Dr Annest mentioned that scar tissue and myofascial pain may be causes for my continued pain but he said he can't be sure unless he went in. I am currently back in N Cal and am seeing Dr Ellis who is still recommending heparin injections which I discussed with both Annest and Sanders. They both said if there is not much of a risk, I should give it a shot given the severity of my symptoms even after surgery. I've decided to give physical therapy more time because it took me some time to find the right therapist here who can combine Edgelow's breathing with manual therapy.

I am seeing a therapist who runs his own practice and has been a yogi for 30 years. He's not afraid to go near the sensitive areas other therapists have been and has me doing very simple vinyasa style yoga poses combined with diaphragmatic breathing. The daily exercises are helping temporarily but once I use my arms too much doing pretty much anything the pain comes rushing back. I am sort of at the acceptance stage that I need to find a way to live with the pain and limitations and still try to pursue my career and goals somehow. My therapist is very confident he can get me much better which helps and is motivating me the most. However, I'm not sure if he knows how to work on mobilizing scar tissue which I may have developed, is anyone familiar with ways to work on that? I am also thinking of going down to Anaheim hills soon to see Ando for an evaluation given other TOSers success with him.

One thing I have learned through this process is that even though I thought I picked the best surgeon for me, I was pretty disappointed in my follow up conversations and meeting with him, as I feel like he is simply pushing me off to another dr since the surgery (as we can tell so far) did not help. He seemed a lot more concerned with the long thoracic nerve healing (an injury he caused during surgery) than with finding options to address my existing issues. Both him and Ellis seem to think I will have to stay on my meds for life and I was very unhappy to hear that as I am taking several very strong meds that I do not want to be on long term.

Anyway, that is my update, I wish I had more positive news. Hopefully, during the next few weeks of therapy I may improve (fingers crossed) as long I try my best to stay positive and stay on top of my exercise as well as watch my physical limitations.