I'm alive and back home a few hours ago. Everything went fine but I was not prepared for some of the intense post op pain. Yesterday was rough and I did not think I would be able to travel today but managed two hour flight plus two hour car ride. Dr. Pearl removed first rib and part of scalene along with some adhesions and scar tissue. He said the area was extremely inflamed and tight.

It is way too early for me to comment too much as I am still in significant pain and sort of a retracted neck and shoulder. LH, were you hurting pretty good for the first week or so? When does that start backing off? I hurt the worst back at the scapula. It is a different pain than what I brought into the surgery so I am praying this is just surgery pain.

My biggest concern with Dr. Pearl is something came up and he did not get to come by to release me from hospital and give me parting instructions. He did give me his cell the day before but I think he is out of the country for two weeks. I plan to call their office tomorrow to ask questions but would love to know how you felt early post op and were you told to do nothing first two weeks before starting PT?

I am optimistic this will end my suffering but cannot waive a victory flag just yet. I will say that hospital is first rate and has the nicest staff I have ever seen by a longshot.

I've been missing all this, I just assumed the posts were updates on the ball player, so I haven't taken time to follow the thread..

I think most post ops have mentioned the worst can last about 2 weeks generally. give or take...but every case is different.

They didn't send home any papers during release from the hospital about activities?

You might start a new thread asking the other post op members about recovery and such.
They might be skipping over this thread as I was.. thinking it was only about the ball player.

Good to hear from you, romans8!
Yes, I was told to do pretty much nothing for the first couple weeks. I mean, I wasn't restricted from using the arm for normal daily activities, like eating, but overall I was told to just lay around and do nothing, and take my meds on schedule. I wasn't tempted to try to stretch the interval between drug doses, either; sometimes I watched the clock like a hawk. I did see him before I left and he still didn't give a lot of post-op instructions, just to do nothing for a couple of weeks, start PT after two weeks but expect to still be doing nothing other than PT for at least another week, call him and let him know how things are going after starting PT and when I started thinking about going back to work but when I did go back I would have the restrictions of no pushing/pulling and no lifting more than 5 lbs, and to call if I had any questions or problems at all.

The first week is the worst. I stayed so doped up that I don't remember a lot about it, but my sister told me that at one point she could tell I was terrified at the thought that this might be what I was stuck with after surgery. She also said that she tried to tease me once about how close I was keeping the narcotics bottle (addiction runs strong in our family and she knows I'm leery of narcotics for fear of becoming an addict) and I told her I didn't give a crap if I did get addicted, that bottle was staying with me. I didn't start weaning off the narcotics until toward the end of week two, and it took me another week to get to "I'll only take one if I really, really need it." And I'm still on the Lyrica and the cyclobenzaprine.

I had the worst pain at the medial scapular border, too, and I questioned Dr. P about it pretty heavily as soon as I saw him post-op. He did say that it was going to hurt for awhile due to the surgery, because of the way the nerves are affected. That was the last place to quit hurting, post-op, but it was noticeably better about 10 days post-op. I laid on ice packs until then, and, once I started feeling well enough to spend more time sitting upright, I tied the ice packs to me, b/c it really does help. Although some people respond better to heat, so you could try that, too.

Everyone in the office is really nice and helpful, so don't hesitate to call them. And do call Dr. P's cell if you feel like you need to; he never acted like it was an inconvenience when I called him.

I'm sorry you are hurting so much right now. It will slack off bit by bit each day and you will feel much better in your second/third week. And, in the long run, if yours goes like mine did, it will have been well worth it. Hang in there!

Thanks LH. Most helpful. I am feeling a little better this afternoon and actually walked around in the yard for a few minutes which felt like a big victory. Your comment about fear of being stuck like this resonated big time. I have been through so much with so many disappointments I think I too easily gravitate to the worst. Maybe this is one of those things where the reward is proportional to the price paid to get here. Wouldn't that be wonderful? I do want to be careful not to put undo fear into anybody that is facing this like tosmother's daughter. I may be wrong but I think the younger and healthier you are the better the recovery. I really think your daughter will do fine. Look at Chris Carpenter. The biggest problem he had two months post op was regaining the location on his fastball. Geez.

I will give an update every two or three days. I will try not to call the doctor unless absolutely necessary as I know he is taking some much needed time off and I could imagine that being too much if all surgery patients called him a lot.

Dr P had a cancellation today so I'm going in for my consult with surgery scheduled 12/5. Y'all's comments have helped me come up with questions and give me something to look forward to .
Romans: Hang in there. We re all so glad you made it through surgery and home safe and sound to start your recovery to a pain-free life.
He's definitely in today because I called yesterday to confirm my appointment was still on for today.
Thank you, LHope for your detailed posts and I'm renaming you Hope because you've been such a beacon to us
One question: since my consult is today is there anything you haven't mentioned that you wish you would have known pre surgery?

Nothing comes to mind right away - what I most wanted to know, he couldn't tell me, and that was "What exactly is this going to be like?" and "How/when will life be normal again?" - y'know, what we all want to know. But since every patient's case is a little bit different, there are no hard and fast answers. But I'm the type that likes to have as much knowledge as possible (especially about something as serious as surgery!), and vague generalities really scare me. I think that's a big part of why I've tried to post as many details of my recovery here, and answer as many questions, as I can.

He had great answers to all the questions I did have - everything from why they weren't planning regional nerve blocks as part of the anesthesia to who would be updating my family in the waiting room and when. And I flat out asked him after he'd examined me, "Considering the risks (and I was far more worried about situations where people have had surgery and come out worse than when they went in than I was about anesthesia, etc.), if you were me, would you recommend surgery to yourself right now?" And he didn't hesitate to say that, in my case, he definitely would, and he firmly believed it would result in a positive change in my quality of life. I think that's as close to a guarantee as you can get out of a surgeon, and it made me comfortable proceeding.

And, so far, he's been right. I have more mobility and less pain; I'm driving and working and I'm easing into reclaiming my life. I've always told people that the worst part of TOS is not the pain (which is saying a lot, since the pain is excruciating and often unbearable), but the fact that it systematically robs you of everything you find enjoyable about life - for me that included activity from "pure fun" activities like riding to "necessity" activities like sleeping. Bit by bit everything gets taken away, and when you're crippled with pain and miserable and angry, it starts taking the people in your life away, too.

It wasn't until after surgery that I started to think I might be able to beat TOS after all. No, life isn't "normal" yet, but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I can believe (for the first time in years) that it isn't the light of an oncoming train. The support of people on this forum has been incredibly helpful and heartening, too.

Good luck today, and keep us posted!

Romans8, I'm so glad you are feeling "better" enough to walk around the yard! It is a victory! I remember my first trip to the mailbox post-op... I definitely understand your pessimism - it's near impossible to maintain optimism in the face of so much past disappointment and pain. And I agree that youth and health probably play a huge role in recovery - I wish I could have had surgery when I was ten years younger and about ten times fitter. Still, we play the hand we're dealt, right? What else can we do?

Definitely keep posting your progress! Here's hoping for great improvements for you!

It was rough but I hope I turned the corner yesterday. Day 5 was the worst and had me and my family concerned. I had lost my voice from the breathing tube so my wife called Dr. P. and he was most helpful. He assured us what I was experiencing was not unusual and I had one of the tightest compressions he had seen. My nerves were going wacko and it was not fun. However people prayed over me Saturday night and I woke up Sunday morning feeling much better. It feels as though my nerves have settled down and now I am dealing with muscular pain. I have also started backing off the pain meds.

I have a long way to go but I can see the light. My left side has contracted more but I hope this is temporary and just a reaction to the right side trauma. I can see why physical therapy is not started for two weeks. It may be three for me.

For those of you facing this surgery please do not let my journey scare you. I agree with Losing Hope that every case is different. I think mine is on the severe end as I carried it so long and had so many other surgeries near that area. I am afraid of scar tissue forming as I seem to be a scar tissue generator.

I hope I make a lot more progress this second week but I will keep you updated. Like LH I will do anything I can to help anyone battling this affliction.

Thank you so much for keeping us posted! i have been thinking about you alot. I am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. My daughter was having lots of pain this weekend and she is just so ready for surgery. I hope that it is like you said...she is young, she hasn't had this for a long while, and is in pretty good shape. Hopefully all of these things are positives for her. We go to Dallas on December 11th for our appointment and then surgery on the 12th.

Thanks again!

I was curious as to how your doctor's appointment went with Dr Pearl...my daughter will have an appointment on Dec 11 & surgery on Dec 12 if all goes well. What tests did you have to do on the appointment day? Are you still scheduled for Dec 5 for surgery? Will you be reporting back here to let us know how you are doing? Thanks in advance for any information that you can give me.