Hello all!

I read this site quite a bit when I first learned that I would be undergoing my first surgery earlier this year, and I am deciding to participate this time as I am preparing for my second round of surgery.

My story is this:

I was diagnosed with TOS in August of 2010 after having significant arm pain and numbness. It was soon discovered that i have bilateral cervical ribs that are placing pressure on the brachial plexus nerve complex. EMG revealed that I was having permanent nerve damage occurring on both arms. I tried a stint of PT, and it was not effective.

My first surgery was with Dr. Molina at the University of Minnesota on March 18, 2011. The procedure they used was to make an incision under my arm pit first, and then complete it through an incision over my shoulder. They did a left first rib resection and scalienectomy.

The recovery was AWFUL, but that was in part due to my inability to tolerate ANY pain medication. Apparently the only thing I can take is flexerol (sp?), and I have to tell you that it does not do too much to deal with pain after surgery! It took me about 6 weeks before I was up doing much of anything for any amount of time. Even 3 months after I was still barely able to complete a full day without having to rest.

The symptoms of pain in my left arm are gone, but there does appear to be some nerve damage that occurred during the surgery, and the back of my arm is always numb noe (kind of like the asleep feeling). It is not painful, but I had not expected it, so it kind of sucks. I also still have a significant amount of pain in my neck and tightness in the muscles of my neck and shoulder. I also do still have some numbness that occurs in my left hand, but it usually only comes on after I have used the arms too much or occasionally when I wake up in the morning I have it.

So now I am schedule to have the right side done on December 20th, 2011 with the same surgeon. I am so dreading the recovery period, but I feel like if it prevents further permanent nerve damage, it is worth it. I am hoping that some of the neck pain I experience will be alleviated after having the other rib removed, but I am not overly optimistic about it.

I guess I assume (based on what I have read on here and other sites on the web), that even with successful surgery, we typically will have to deal with some issues of pain management for the rest of our lives. Que sera, sera!!!

I would love to hear from other people that have maybe had this condition because of cervical ribs, and if you have had surgery, please let me know what your longterm outcomes are. Also, has anyone else had this done with Dr Molina? He seems to be one of the "specialists" for this surgery, but I have not seen his name ever mentioned in these forums.

Wish me luck all!