[diane54]

Hi
My name is Diane. I live in Seattle. Been struggling for the last year and a half or so.

Started out with frozen shoulder - eventually ended up with a physiatrist who worked me up and have received a diagnosis of bilateral TOS as well as C5-6 stenosis and bulging discs.

Saw a well-respected vascular surgeon here on the Eastside of Seattle who recommends the axillary surgery. I had about 8 weeks of PT which didn't do anything; however a scalene block did give me about 80% relief. He says this indicates I would probably do well with surgery.

Not sure I'm sold, as my neck/arm/shoulder pain also completely relieved with a C5-6 epidural steroid injection - lasted for 6 weeks. Leads me to think that a cervical foraminotomy may be the best option.

I've never had chronic pain before and this is wearing me down. I work 8-10 hours per day as a medical transcriptionist and this sure makes it hard to my job.

Would like some advice on the TOS surgery. I'm willing to give it a try if it will give me some relief. I feel confident in the surgeon. If you want his name, private message me. I'm getting a repeat scalene block this week to run that test again. My diagnosis is "true neurogenic TOS". He wants to go in under the armpit.

thanks for any advice and look forward to hearing from some new TOS friends!
Diane