I am 22 years of age and have recently had a first rib resection on my right hand side as I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. My symptoms and scans suggested that the artery was being impinged and slight nerve impingement.
My surgery was performed by a vascular surgeon and I am now 5 weeks post op. Immediately upon waking I had intense tingling (pins and needles) in my right hand. I also had lost sensation in my fingers, I could move them but not as normal and strength was limited.
5 weeks on my hand remains numb, the tingling has died down due to strong nerve painkillers and most of my arm sensation has come back. I have experienced strong pain in the muscles in my arm, movement above my head and any sort of straightening of the arm and hand is impossible.
I was told pre op I would not need physio, I have since sought out my own physio who has helped but my muscles are so tight and painful even with her help movement is not improving and the pain in my arm is awful.

Has anyone else experienced this problem with numbness in their hand? Or severe muscle limitations and pain? Any idea what may have caused it? My surgeon was adamant he did not cut any or nerves during the procedure and therefore seems reluctant to help me or find out what may have been the problem.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I have not had this experience, though I did have the surgery 9 years ago and was made worse than I was prior to the surgery. I have worse nerve pain and headache/migraines. I don't have the tingling or numbness -- at least not worse than before surgery.

Whether your surgeon cut something or not, the fact remains that you've had an outcome you were not expected to have. I would think it would be incumbent upon your surgeon to find out what is happening, rather than simply becoming defensive about not cutting any nerves. What others explanations might the surgeon have? What next steps can you take?

I really fries me when doctors wash their hands of patients who don't have good outcomes. They worry too much about liability and not enough about getting to the bottom of why some of us don't do well with surgery. I would think that doctors would want to solve the riddle, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Good luck,
Kelly

[QUOTE=TOSEdinburgh;1072433]I am 22 years of age and have recently had a first rib resection on my right hand side as I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. My symptoms and scans suggested that the artery was being impinged and slight nerve impingement.
My surgery was performed by a vascular surgeon and I am now 5 weeks post op. Immediately upon waking I had intense tingling (pins and needles) in my right hand. I also had lost sensation in my fingers, I could move them but not as normal and strength was limited.
5 weeks on my hand remains numb, the tingling has died down due to strong nerve painkillers and most of my arm sensation has come back. I have experienced strong pain in the muscles in my arm, movement above my head and any sort of straightening of the arm and hand is impossible.
I was told pre op I would not need physio, I have since sought out my own physio who has helped but my muscles are so tight and painful even with her help movement is not improving and the pain in my arm is awful.



I was in your shoes 4 months ago I had serious complications from my surgery, but the surgeon just stood there shaking his head, completely clueless how that could possibly be. When I went to my PCP and she saw the shape I was in, she was furious. She called the surgeon right then and there and let him have it. He finally owned up to the fact that he had nicked my long thoracic nerve, as well as hyper-extending my arm and damaging the nerves all down my tricep area during the surgery. My PCP was the one to start me on PT. That surgeon was just useless.

I am sooo sorry you are dealing with this. The only thing I can say that may help you is that 4 months out, I am doing much better. Not 100% by any means, but, not in constant pain. And I can use my arm for simple things. Such an improvement over how I was even 2 months ago.

What meds do they have you on? I needed a combo of pain pills and muscle relaxer to survive the worst of it. Please let us know how your doing.

What was your surgery?? Rib resection or rib resection with scalenectomy?

Rib resection with scalenectomy. L side.

Five weeks is pretty early. I was told three months is an average recovery time.

Duh, sorry Eight, I thought the question was for me.

Thanks for all your responses. It is good to hear others have had similar problems, and a relief to hear that at 5 weeks is still early! It was just my right first rib that was removed.
I have managed to get an appointment this Friday with my surgeon. It will be 6 weeks by then, a 6 week check up is standard here in the UK, however he told me I would have to wait 2-3 months as he was busy. It took a letter from my doctor and lots of pleading with his secretary to finally get the appointment- will hopefully get some answers then. I was discharged from hospital on just paracetamol and ibuprofen but couldn't handle the pain so am now on co-Codamol, diclofenac, amitrptyline and gabapentin, and I am still in a lot of pain.
I do feel my movement has improved, particularly with physio and excercise, it's just the pain that's still bad!
The surgeon told me before the operation that I would be back at work within 2 weeks so it's been a bit of a shock just how hard the recovery has been.

My doctor told me recovery would take 9-12 months. It took me a solid 2 months to recover from the surgery, to say nothing of trying to get better. For me, that didn't come, unfortunately.

I can't understand how doctors tell patients they'll be good to go in two weeks. Maybe someone with vascular TOS could be okay then, but even that seems like a stretch.

Good luck with your recovery.

Kelly

Two weeks for recovery is nuts. So sorry that is what you were told. You sound like me, I was shocked by the amount of pain I went home in. They had to re-admit me into the hospital 4 days later due to pain control, the surgeons idea, not mine, but I wasn't going to argue, I just needed help!

Honestly, it will get better. I had a lot of complications, so I'm still trying to heal just from that, but, I am not in constant pain, and need no prescription pain meds any longer. Just hang in there, you'll see the light at the end of the tunnel soon, I promise!!