Many of us have had to learn to sleep other ways, my elbows were super sensitive when my TOS began. Had to wrap padding on them so the mattress pressure wouldn't irritate them.
Others use extra pillows to prop the body or arms for comfort.

I can usually sleep in any position now after 8 yrs.( sleep has been normal for 5yrs, only messed up for the first 3) -after many sessions of PT and chiro, plus all the home care stuff I did for myself.

One of my early dx's was a chronic strained neck/shoulder w/arm pain.

My PT & DC sessions were focused on pain relief first, not strengthening or anything else.
ultrasound, massage, heat/ice, then gentle stretching & ROM work, some biofeedback to check for full muscle relaxation, chiro also added IF stimulation, low level laser, upper cervical adjustment, manual trigger point work and some deep tissue work.

Personally if it was me I'd pospone the op to at least after the New Year. Like Jomar has already mentioned, less staff at hospital and possibly less help available at home over the Christmas period????
Unfortunately in my experience the post op stay was alot longer than suggested. Be prepared for the unexpected..... I had to stay for a total of 5 nights including 3 nights due to EXTREME nausea from the anesthetic and a bad reaction to diclofenac pain relief med ( TERRIBLE stomach cramps )! I don't want to freak you out but BE AWARE of the unsaid possibilities.
Best wishes to you.

Although I have not had TOS surgery, I agree with postponing until after the holidays. I had wrist surgery (fixing some ligaments) last year which was outpatient and I was advised not to do it right before Xmas or between Xmas and new years. However I chose to do it a few days before Xmas which allowed enough time between the surgery and Xmas had there been any complications with pain, meds, etc. From what I hear about TOS surgery, you need to take it easy afterwards which may be difficult to do around the holidays esp with children. Whatever decision you make, I wish you a speedy recovery and successful results.

Yes, I totally forgot to say , whatever you decide is best for you, we'll support you fully and hope for excellent results.

Thinking of you s.i.m.........If you went ahead with op BEST WISHES for your recovery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

S.I.M. praying things have gone well.
Cheers,
Jay

Hope things went well, Steve.

Thank you for this advice... I definitely had not thought of this, but your post (and the similar sentiments echoed by others) allowed me to ask some questions I would not have asked during my stay and I avoided some 'junior/new' staff members thanks to those questions...

I still had some bumps in the road which may or may not have been due to the holiday, but the mistakes were certainly not ones I would expect from this hospital based on previous extremely positive experiences...

Some examples: It took the nurse three times to get my IV in.. and she eventually needed the help of her superior. Not the best start to my check-in procedure. The over night assitants were not good- at 3am one of them helped me out of bed, unplugged my IV tower and walked me to my bathroom, and then she just disappeared. She forgot that she needed to make sure I was able to get back INTO bed, and more importantly, that she needed to plug my IV back into the wall... The head nurse was more than a little flustered when she saw me tottering down to the nurses station (unattended) with my IV tower and my bright yellow "fall risk wristband".

After sharing my concerns about my level of care and wondering whether I needed to be concerned for my safety, things went very well....

Thank you all again

I am floored by the support, thank you. I am wide awake in the middle of the night, so I thought I would share a little about how things have gone so far.

As some background, I think I found these boards less than a week before my surgery, and I spent quite a bit of time in that week scouring the net to learn anything I could about TOS and rib resection surgery... There is very little out there, as you all probably know, and I was thankful to find a resource that not only had inf, but was a message board of active members.

I had my rib resection surgery on Friday at 11am. The doctor said things did go well, and that there were no surprises. I did have some extra muscles in my shoulder area that aren't normal and may have contributed to TOS, but he doesn't expect them to be an issue going forward.

I didn't get much sleep, about 3-4 hours total in 45-60 minute increments, but over the course of the evening/night my pain did drop from 7-8-9 down to five-ish the next morning. I was fortunate to avoid any of the side affects from the anesthesia. By that night, I had progressed from jello to graham crackers but still hadn't had any real food and was hungry. My wife had brought some Chinese back to the hospital, and over the course of an hour or two I was able to eat that which did wonders.

Despite the night-time adventures I listed above, and just a few hours of sleep, I woke up feeling pretty good. My pain was continuing to get better, I was up and about on my own (I moved the IV tower to a different outlet so I didn't need their "help" to get to and from the bathroom). By 8am my doctor came by to check on me, and I asked about some things that I wanted to do, and by 10am I was leaving the hospital.

I took it easy for a few hours, and by 2:00 I was feeling good enough that we were able to drive with my wife/kids for the 2.5 hours to my parents for Christmas. The drive was a little rough, but I just plugged in a movie in my laptop and zoned in/out of sleep for most of the trip.

I got a little wiped out at the end of the day,but otherwise was no worse off. It sounds like my experience is atypical, and I am feeling pretty fortunate so far.

I have been tring to get a sense as to howmuch of the pain I am having is due to the surgery vs. consistent with what I had before, and I really can't tell... I am cautiously optimistic...

Thanks again to you all for the insight, coaching, support and for sharing your experiences here. I am hopeful that I willbe able to continue to "pay it forward"...

Merry Christmas...
Steve in Minneapolis

Pleased to hear you are doing well, Steve. I hope the recovery period goes smoothly!