Recovery
 

Hey everyone. In the hospital recovering from surgery now. Had surgery at Weill Cornell hospital with Dr Schneider in New York City. So waiting to see the doc, surgery was completed yesterday around 330 in the afternoon. His assistant came in this morning and filled me in. So no rib resection was performed, she said the doctor didn't feel it was needed. A part of the scalene muscle was very large and had a lot of scar tissue and was putting a lot of pressure on the nerves, and the nerves had a lot of scarring due to the friction. She told me the doctor thinks that the neck trauma I suffered in my accident probably stretched out and somewhat tore that part of the scalene leaving it damaged, swollen, and scarred, and over time in turn damaged the nerves it was smothering. So she also said he removed a very large part of the scalene muscle and there is a larger empty space there. He also cleaned up the scarred nerves. This self medicating IV drip is keeping my pain at a very tolerable level. They are also giving me my gabapentin and some other anti inflammatory. My whole shoulder and up my neck and face and into my ear on the one side is completely numb. Can't feel my ear at all, lol. Guess that will subside? I hope.:eek: Should be leaving the hospital tomorrow so I'll prob be posting more when I'm home recovering. This is a great site for information and support, I appreciate all the past advice I have received and all the effort and time people put into this site to help others. I would like to return the favor and offer any advice I can for anyone in the ny area. I would personally recommend Dr Darren Schneider. He was very straight foward with me and answered my questions thoroughly. Pain starting up here so I'm gonna stop typing. Best wishes to everyone.:grouphug:

Hope recovery goes well and smoothly for you. Take is easy and don't overdo anything..

:cool:

Glad all went well. Get some rest and don't overdo it.

Take care and May GOD bless u and continue to heal u.

numbness is normal and will go down slowly but steadily. i both of those words are the truth: it is SLOW....but it is STEADY. hehe.

it may take up to one year.

Hi there! Wishing you the most comfortable of recoveries!
Please let us know how it goes! I have been searching and searching for what to expect and it is very difficult ( as you may know) to find answers. I, also am having a scalenectomy on Oct. 23rd.

Wishing you many comfortable days and nights ahead!

Happy to hear of a conservative surgeon who felt he could help without rib resection necessity. Sure hope the best for you now and in the future

So they may hold me one more night. Pains still there, they took me off the IV meds and giving me oral meds only now. Things feel really tight and tender in the side of my neck. More of a deep ache than a sharp pain. Moving around very sluggishly as to not aggravate the already angry nerves. I would say the worst of it all is the extreme numbness in my shoulder, chest, up the side of the neck and face right into my ear. Things feel strange where muscle was removed. Slow and steady. :)

better it all be numb than painful