Rib resection 4 weeks post/still swollen forearm painful armpit
 

Hey all,
I'm new to this forum, it's been very helpful! I understand healing from surgery but as I am doing very well I am still experiencing the SAME painful swollen arm that is not related to healing, it's still a circulation of blood problem. This stupid vein is still not sending the blood back out of my arm. Here's the deal: they are doing another venogram to make sure the vein is open well and just today I started to feel pain in my armpit. I palpated and ther is a round lump in the center of it. Is this lymph and could this be a residual side effect from the tos rib resection/scalenectomy? Could this be the reason my arm is still not draining the blood out? Can the lymph node swollen decrease the veins ability to recirculate the blood back out of my arm? My test is at the hospital tomorrow so of course I will bring this up. Can they fix a lymph node? Thanks so much!!

Ok I am updating this. Now I am completely confused. My venogram today showed that the rib resection was just an anomaly that was stumbled upon but it did not correct my problem. I'm in shock and completely mind numb right now. It turns out that they could not access the middle of my arm for an iv so they went into my hand. Vascular surgeon was not happy and I said well it's my lower arm from the elbow down that is swelling and painful could you look at the whole arm in this venogram (2 previous ones were accessed higher). It turns out that the veins, ALL of them are spasming (word) and they are tiny as threads and not at all the size they should be, like capillaries. So the return is not good at all and it makes sense. So I said that the surgery was for nothing and he said no not entirely but yeah it apparently is not the problem after seeing these veins. He did not know where to send me and finally said maybe a rheumatologist might know. He was confused and uncomfortable. I am not bitter at all but I am in a state of shock that I have been thru this surgery and so many years of pain and I just really need advice about f anyone knows who deals with this. A rheum seems random to me. Any ideas? Please, I am weary and need support. Thanks
Steph:confused:

Hello ,
I some how missed your post last night and again this morning when I logged on.

It's so sad you had to go through the resection to find out that something else possibly is the main problem...

Another member had a similar issues - she had surgery but one of the top TOS drs suggested she also had some unusual / unnamed autoimmune condition that causes swelling for her as well as TOS.
She has fewer headaches now since her surgery but pain & swelling are about the same.
An autoimmune dr is probably the way to proceed, I hope you can find a very good one in your area.
you might check out our Autoimmune forum for more info -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum44.html

oh I was looking around for more Autoimmune info and this might be handy-
[Autoimmune Disease Checklist:
A Handy List of Symptoms That Can Point to Possible Autoimmune Conditions, to Bring to the Doctor ]
http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles...-checklist.htm


Did the dr feel the lump in the arm pit?
Is it still there?

If it is a lymph gland they usually can be massaged , stroked and warm heat to unclog it. It would be good to have a professional verify what it might be first.

Is the swelling problem in only one arm?
What other symptoms are you having along with swelling?