Hello everyone, I'm looking forward to getting to know ya'll! I thought I'd share my story and ask a few questions.

The whole big mess started my Junior year in high school in 2003. I naturally have very lax ligaments and I ended up stretching out my shoulder ligaments a good deal on the swim team (I was a backstroker). My mom took me to my PCP who sent me to an orthopedic who diagnosed me with multidirectional instability. This was causing radiating pain down my arms and my shoulders to sublux (partially dislocate). After a couple rounds of failed physical therapy I had surgery on both shoulders, a year apart in April '06 and '07. The pain went away and my shoulders were successfully stabilized. I felt great! That is until 2008 when I had an acute bout of pain in my left shoulder. I freaked thinking I messed up my shoulder but I was told by my PCP that it was just bursitis and I was sent to PT. 6 weeks into PT I was still in the same amount of pain until one day when I woke up and it was just gone. Poof! Someone said it may have been a blood clot that passed but no one really thought more of it. I was sent to a orthopedic who said my shoulders were fine and to go back to PT. I did that again. Ugh. That's when I started getting muscle spasms pretty regularly along my shoulder blade and up my neck. My PCP sent me to the chiropractor. It didn't help so I was sent to a neurologist who diagnosed me with TOS.
Now this is where I'm most frustrated because it was never really explained to me at this point what TOS was and how serious/progressive it could be. I was sent to a neuromuscular physical therapist which didn't work and I just dropped it because no one seemed to think it was that big a deal. I dealt with the pain with my flexeril and tramadol which didn't need to be used all too often until I realized that I wasn't really having good days anymore and my bad days had gone from being around a 4 on the pain scale to about an 8. I was sent for an MRI of my neck; this was now in summer 2012. I was sent for 2 rounds of PT again this time focusing on TOS since the PT thought I had it and I was discharged after 4 months for lack of progress and symptom progression.
They found 2 minor bulging disks and a slightly impinged nerve so I was sent to an orthopedic who specializes in the neck. I was told my neck was "absolutely not causing the pain" and was sent to a neurologist. The neurologist said everything was absolutely normal and that pregnancy can make things hurt a little... wow, really? My pregnancy did this? Someone call the Guinness World Book of Records because I just had the longest pregnancy in history. She wanted to send me to a hand surgeon or a pain management clinic which I refused because it was ridiculous. What I wanted were answers not pain meds. She sent me to "the shoulder guy." Yet ANOTHER orthopedic. In the meantime my PCP sent me for an MRI of my brain to check for MS and then off to a rhematologist to check for any "weird connective tissue diseases." Keep in mind, I have told ALL of these doctors that I was previously diagnosed with TOS and ALL of them had said they were not qualified to diagnose this but would send me to someone who could. I went to the new orthopedic who said that he thought my neck was causing the issues and my shoulders were anatomically perfect. I asked him to please give me a referral to someone who could diagnose TOS.
Of course, he sent me to a Vascular Surgeon who does not diagnose TOS so I ended up seeing a different one. The first time I went down to his office (over an hour away) he was stuck in surgery and I was seen by a medical student and a PA. They took half a medical history and told me that bilateral TOS symptoms didn't happen so I probably didn't have it but to feel free to come back again. The medical student told me that it was all in my head.
I did come back. I was seen first by the medical resident who said I didn't have TOS because I was not losing my pulse but when the doctor came in he stated that the resident did it wrong and I clearly did. I now have an appointment to see the Thoracic surgeon that will be doing the surgery with the Vascular surgeon and they will schedule a first rib resection and scalenectomy in January. I've been told there is involvement of the artery, vein and nerve.
So FINALLY I have my answer. It took years because of my other medical issues but they finally got it. The weakness, fatigue, loss of dexterity, the pain and the numbness will with any luck be a thing of the past.
What I want to know is about your experiences with surgery. I've read past threads but there are a few things I would really like to know.

Firstly, has anyone had any experience with the surgeons at Yale New Haven Hospital in CT? Unfortunately, I can only see a doctor in CT and most do not take my insurance. I do not have the funds to go out of state :-(

Secondly, can you share what medications you were taking both in the hospital and upon discharge? I am currently a lactating mom and I need to be able to research when/if it will be safe to give my baby my milk.

Thirdly, what can I expect pain-wise and function wise week by week? Specifically, how able will I be to pump breastmilk? Shower? When will I be able to hold my baby (she'll be 15 months old by surgery time)? How much sleep will my body crave? I need to know these things so I can plan to have help for my significant other. He and my mother will be able to be with me at all times but they will need breaks too I'm sure. I know it will be exhausting to watch after both me and my daughter so I want to make sure I schedule other people for breaks but I was wondering how far out to do this.

Lastly, any suggestions for me to keep me occupied? Eventually I'm sure I'll be at the point where I won't want to sleep all the time but my arm will be in a sling. Any suggestions about ways to keep myself busy? A girl can watch only so many movies!!

If you've managed to read this far, thank you. I really do appreciate it. After all this time it's good to get it off my chest and share the sense of relief I have that I'm not crazy after all.