reGreeting & introduction
 

(copy/pasting my intro as suggested by some other caring members....thank you's for the early welcomes....can't begin to tell you's how familial y'all have made me feel already, THANK YOU)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greetings fellow TOSers

Vixen here from Hamilton, Ontario. Finding this forum & such a wonderfully supportive network of people with the same things is nothing short of miraculous for me…..thank you for having me.

Have spent quite a few days, literally, scouring through the 39 pages of the forum & my brain feels SO overloaded, yet I’m relieved to find kindred minds, so much education & help as to what I really need to get a grip on living life with TOS.

Not sure where to start to tell you about me. I’m one of the rarer birds in that I’ve known about & dealt with having cervical ribs for 37 years (we discovered them & their probs back when I was only 13 and just becoming a budding teenager). They are bilateral with the left side being larger & more symptomatic.

Back in the 80s my symptoms progressed to the point where they did a rib removal in Alberta. For many years I naively thought they’d removed the errant spare rib on the left
side. Only found out last year that it was actually a rib resection of my first rib & not the culprit at all.

In January ’03 I was in a rear ender accident & they started treating me for whiplash. Treatment went fairly well with physio/chiro for the near 4 months that the insurance company approved the treatment plans. But since then I’ve fought to try to get the insurance people & the medical field to realize there was more going on here than just that.

My family doctor (who I only met when I went to ER after the accident) took me on, as finding a physician in Ontario is no easy feat, sadly. So I was glad to finally have someone regular to tend to my medical needs. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that any of this “rib stuff” would be rearing it’s ugly head again. I also didn’t think to question this new doctor about his doctoring theories. Turns out we didn’t see eye to eye on many things regarding my treatment. …..chiro & pain management being the two major issues why I quit seeing him over a year ago & quit taking the few meds he’d prescribed, as the depression meds just made me emotionless. I truly think this man thought I was just crazy & making so much of all this up, as he didn’t understand it hardly at all, so surely I was some paranoid hypochondriac or something. He hated doing all the insurance/legal paperwork that was becoming evident with the lawsuit & asked me to stop having my lawyer send anything to him.

I had before quitting this Dr, gotten him to refer for some neuro tests, which proved I did have something there, which then got me a referral to a vascular surgeon whom I saw last year a couple times. Of course all this guy wants to do is cut, he is a surgeon afterall, and tells me the only future I have is to remove the left cervical rib…I’m not convinced.

Now I’ve known the value of treatments like physio/chiro/acupuncture from treatments I’ve had over the years. I knew that my pain management needed to be dealt with, my physical condition could be helped with other methods, even if they were only a bandaid solution (as he called it) ….but I wasn’t ready to agree to surgery quite yet, when there were other avenues.

Back 37 years ago, when I was only 13 they wanted to operate & only gave me 50/50 odds of coming out paralyzed to some degree. Now in the new millennium, surgeons have progressed to him giving me odds of like 17% these days. Well, the fact is, I just turned 50 & wasn’t about to willfully succumb to going under the knife while I still enjoy some use of this arm. And I know what things I need to keep in optimum shape to deal with it all. I just can’t get the doctors/lawyers/insurance people to admit that this is all very real & I may just have an idea of what’s going with my body & what it needs. I have lived with it for a lifetime afterall. I just need them to let me get the treatments & have a life, as limited as that may be.

Been off the meds for16 months…..have had NO financial support since the end of ’05. I’ve now atrophied/progressed negatively to such a degree with the chronic pain that I’ve become very depressed/near agoraphobic. I’m sure the insurance company thought I’d just crawl in a corner & die/go away, but now that my savings have been exhausted, my mental state’s deteriorated terribly with this chronic pain & non treatments of any kind, I’m facing losing my business, my loft & everything I have. Social Services isn’t any help as I’ve not been “labeled” as disabled. I physically can’t take care of myself anymore & I have to find the strength & clarity to grasp my last will to fight all this. I may be in the biggest flare of my life, but I’m still kicking.

I have been the victim here in so many ways. My early years in suffering from TOS has kept me very naïve but now as I approach about as low as I ever thought a person could get, I found you angels. <biggest group huggle imaginable> :grouphug: I can’t thank you’s enough.

You’ve equipped me with knowledge & the willpower to fight for a better life. I wanted to introduce myself quickly while I still have a net/phone connection. But mostly I wanted to thank you’s for the empowering me with what I need to save myself. I may be offline for a while, but dangit, I’ll be back…..you’ll probably get sick of me.

I’d love to hear from a few of the Canadian girls with any advice they may have on how to best crawl out of this hole. I need to know about good therapists, pain doctors/clinics, government programs that surely must be out there for someone such as I suffering with all this. Please feel free to email me, as no matter where I end up, I’ll be checking my emails from time to time, even from the library if that’s what it takes.

Again, my sincerest, most grateful THANKS!!!!!!!!!!! :hug:
(and I’ve really rambled on, sorry)



Vix (real name’s Becca, but most people do call me Vix in real life.)

sorry you have TOS.
 

Welcome home Vix! :hug:

Your ribs were much like mine: bi-lateral, with right longer than left. Fused into the first rib via fiberous bands. also had an extra scalene on the left. I can well imagine the pain you are in.

I'm sure the Canadianne's will be along soon to assist you with sorting out this terrible situation. Can you access the internet from a library or other public (free) source? I've found the support here has made the difference for me between a hard road and total disaster.

*snif* I love you guys! :grouphug:
Anne

loving the support
 

Anne: I really appreciate the welcome & support, as I'm sure most new people do to this forum. Since I've lived with this all for so long, and given how naive the healthcare providers have been themselves way back then, I've pretty much "grown up" thinking that I was just more a freak of nature. This pegging & outlook from others meant that I never really did a lot of own personal education on the whole thing.....but that's all changed BIG time now, thanks to y'all.

Can you access the internet from a library or other public (free) source? I've found the support here has made the difference for me between a hard road and total disaster.

Yes, I'd already had the library access as my backup plan with this innevitable cutoff of my communication line <barring having the winning lottery ticket before that becomes a reality...lol>
But while I've still got it, I'm forcing myself to sit longer doing research with all your help & experiences as my guide, while the getting's good. Already my outlook has gone from the doom/gloom of total disasterish to a road I can still walk & win on, specially with the support that abounds withing this forum & it's amazing membership.

this place gives me much hope for my future at last & for that there will never be enough hugs & thanks :grouphug:


Vix

Hey Vix!!! Dorrie here from Keswick, Ontario!!! About 1 1/2 hours away from you!!!!!!!:)

Hi Vix!
Glad you made it.
If you look for the linl I have up for old archive post, there are about 500 pages there. SOme are dead ends but for somereason many can still be read, but not respond to them...
I will try to find some of articles we rely on and and I thinl Jo has up in the stickey favorite sites too...:welcome_sign:
Di

Hi Vix! Everyone is here to help. Sorry you have to be here but you found a great place to be. Linda

Hello Vix, and welcome. I'm a fellow Canadian. I hope some good luck come's your way. I'm having a few issue's with medication, and a bit under the weather but I wanted to say Hi and again welcome.:)

Vix; Do you have a Family Doctor? Have you applied for Cppdisabilty yet? Do you have after hours clininc's in Ontario?

Here is a link to cppdisability. It will tell you how to apply for benefits.
Service Canada
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/isp/cpp/disaben.shtml

In the meantime I would suggest social services

http://www.cfcs.gov.on.ca/mcss/engli...l&program=mcss

:hug: HI Vix! Just checking in to see how you are doing? Let us know when you can! Dorrie:hug:

hi late but better than never
 

Hi Vix,

I was in Hamilton and now in Calgary. I can help with clinic names, doctor names and whatever else if I can......let me know PM me and I'll be glad to help you out....have bilateral cervial ribs, fused c5-6 and had 1st rib ressection with scalenectomy in 2005, amazing surgeon CRAP PT......so in hell again....life goes on and we somehow meet here and commizerate!!!!!

When applying for cpp they will first deny you %^#$#$%&^*% !!!!!!!!!!!! I then wrote a 12 page letter and got approved and have not heard from them and unless you hear from them or have a change to let them know of all is well.....but writing the letter was HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



love and hugs,
Victoria

Hi Vix
 

Fellow Hamiltonian (is that right?) here...had surgery in March of this year...feel free to PM me with any questions or if you just want to talk (I'm always willing to share my story). Victoria helped me get through this so the least I can do is pass on all the advice she gave me to help me get this far!

Hi Vix,
Welcome, sorry to hear about your troubles with TOS.
Hope you were able to PM the Canadian gals and get some good info from them.

We have a lot of info links compiled in our useful sticky & Drs/PT lists too.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=84
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=135

Please pardon the term, but seems we have another kunec amongst us**than again I have been replied to many thing that no lady should be present for** so I request that I be admonishd genlty and seems the population is growing daily:welcome_sign: ! By all means welcome and the more fellow Canadians upon the board might just help others in gaining care that may have been unbeknown by others. Word of mouth is a great means of advertisemet in itself. There are some Australians here also and it appears that quality care seems to be so far apart<<<UMmmPH? Than again some of the American doctors only God knows why they received their license, as they break the Cardinal rule in the treatment of their first patient**DO NO HARM** whilst in the persuit of money.... enough rambling and and may I bring about a many of welcome from Mark~n~Goober

not to be rude in any way....
 

Hi Mark....
not to be rude but we prefer Cancuk!! Thanks...from this Canuck in Calgary!!!

love and hugs,
Victoria:hug:

Victoria if you get a chance take a look at repl#1007 in the today thread GOOBER has taken over and had made me do revisions to his already perverse outburst:D:Head-Spin: :Bang-Head: :Poke: :icon_evil: :icon_evil: :icon_evil:

Greetings again, my new TOS family...I'm blown away by the caring & help y'all are so freely sharing...I only hope I can be such in return, and if in my reply, I've forgotten anyone, please forgive this noob... :Hum:

Hey dorrie….nice to meet a fellow Ontarian….my birth mom’s up near Orillia & I used to date a guy from Keswick….small world, isn’t it?

<waves to LinJane> you’re so right about how great this place is, thanks

Hi jo…..yes, I’ve been working on getting to know the PM system here & am contacting some of my fellow Canadians, thanks for the welcome

<waves both hands, one for Mark, one for Goober> and nice to meet you’s

and yes, it’s “canuck”, hun….lol….but seems I’m in good company here, thanks

Hello hairdresser….another Canadian, how fabulous….thanks for the links, greeting & hope you’re feeling better, hun

Just working on finding a Family Doctor, went for the interview Monday actually….since when did Canadian doctors start acting like they were in hollywood or some such place that they have to “see if you’re a good fit” for their practice? And then he says, call back in a couple week's time to find out what he's decided!! What ever happened to the hypocratic oath??

Haven’t applied for Cppdisability yet (but upon a smart lady’s suggestion to do it regardless of having a family doctor seems to be in order, just to get the process started, knowing they’ll probably deny the first app anyways…yish, this is such a dance we all do, isn’t it?)

wow, Jamy…..would love to get together for coffee or such….if you’re up for it....it's just tooooo kewl to have found someone in my own back yard, as it were....woohoo :hug:


Just as an aside to all the hiyas...I've been working with an employment agency lately that specializes in handling people with disabilities. The intake worker had basically told me that about the only thing he could see me fit for doing right now might be call center work (like aspiring to a bottom rung re-entery job was such a thing to "look forward" to) <sigh>

So a couple weeks ago I went out, applied to a few & was hired by one company that I started with last week. I just couldn't handle the pain, the stress (not to mention the moral issue of such a dirty kind of business), so I quit today....stupid, I know, as I really don't have alternatives right now in any form of luxury, but I just wasn't any good to them or myself in the capacity that I am/or am not at this time. Guess I'll head back to the agency tomorrow again to regrettably fill them in on the bad news & try to explain to them that I'm just not capable of doing anything but trying to get healthy again right now...not that that will help my situation, but working left me with even lesser rest & stress & the TOS seems to be rapidly spreading/attrifying the last few weeks. Hopefully someone will finally hear my cries for help soon.

It helps to come on here & find out how similar we all are in our own unique ways....it really is like coming home....thank you's :grouphug:


Becca (Vixen)

mmmm coffee
 

OH I wish I could come to have coffee with you guys!!! It was my back yard as well....
we don't have as many people as in SOCO but hey three minus one......I am there in spirit.
Vix give the doc I gave you a call. She will get you into the system. If you need massage....price is an issue I know, but if you could find a way it really helps. Ask Jamy we had the same one and she is the most wonderful massage therapist in the world!! pls note this is personal opinion!!!!

take care and yeah health is more important than work, but hey.....one to the other...chicken or the egg.....

love and hugs,
Victoria:hug:

Hi Vix!

Ya - coffee would be fantastic!!! I know the value of having someone to 'vent' about TOS to :)

Finding a doc is rough...I still haven't found a doc in Hamilton yet and have been in the area 5 years. Whenever I call one that is accepting patients I am told I have too many issues to become a patient. They just seem to want folks who come in for a yearly check-up and never get sick. My needing appts for this and that, script renewals, etc just seems to be too much to handle. I am lucky that finally my family doc is working with me instead of against me. But, once you get in to see the right docs, life seems to get a bit easier. Patience was something I had to learn!!!

Whatever I can do, ask. As Vic mentioned - we both have/had a great (in my opinion) MT...she is fantastic! I have gone through a LOT of MTs over the years...and she is GREAT! If I had to put my $$ somewhere, this is where it would be (again personal opinion...).

Take it easy, enjoy your weekend. The weather is supposed to be great!

J

PS: Dorrie, hello to a fellow Lake Simcoer! I grew up just across the lake!