Good luck to all of you. Keep us upto date on your progress. Rest and relax! Hugs, Ozzy

Best wishes to everyone having surgery and here's hoping you all feel better soon!

Best of luck you guys! Will be thinking about each of you on the days of your surgeries.

Johanna, it's nice to know that you are doing your other side so soon after your first--I guess that means that you consider your first surgery a success....Fantastic!

i love the idea of the power of three - was that gibb who said that? right on!!!

just so we can keep it straight (OK, me!) and give each of you the attention you deserve, can you please tell us just the basics about your procedure, if you wouldn't mind that is?

like i know johannakat is having her R side done, transaxillary approach rib resection by dr. sam ahn here in los angeles (partial scalenectomy, natch - kinda hard to get the ribby out without doing one of those; sam's good but he ain't that good!). seems like you've given the other side just the right amount of time to heal from the first surgery, ho (i just hope sam is sufficiently recovered, hahaha) - to be honest it made me a little nervous when you were going to do it sooner. i'm glad things worked out this way!

and i think ihtos (now does that stand for "i hate TOS? just wonderin'!) said she was going with dr. richard sanders in denver, who i think uses a supraclavicular approach and usually does a complete scalenectomy as the first TOS surgery... but he will also a) resect the first thoracic rib, if he sees it as being part of the neurovascular compromise once he is "in there"; and/or b) perform the pec minor release if the dx tests he routinely runs prior to surgery indicate that muscle to be contributing significantly to the TOS patient's sx.

mucker, mucker, mucker! i confess i would need to go back and re-read your posts to recall which side you are going to have done first and i always seem to get the name of your excellent surgeon wrong for some reason. is it dr. bethune? but i think it's a transaxillary rib resection you are up for, is that right? i am so happy that you got the call earlier than you expected, mucker. i truly hope this procedure brings you relief (of course, i wish that for everyone!).

if you guys could fill us in i think that would be great. i know there are some who like to visualize, others who pray, and we ALL will be holding you in our thoughts and in our hearts on the dates of your surgeries as well as the days immediately following. this is a tough operation but i know all three of you will be in good hands, receiving excellent care where you are and also will have loved ones with you to help you. still, this is a big deal and we all want to support each of you in any way that we can.

this is so exciting - i was a nervous wreck before my rib resection but also i can remember feeling carried away by the whole process. almost uplifting, somehow. very hard to explain.

anyhow, my best to each of you. what a long hard road it's been! and do have someone post for you if that is at all possible, just to let us know you made it through OK, will you?

alison
"Be Brave"

First i would like to say thank you all for your best wishes and prayers. That is cool that three of us well all be going in on the same week. I wish that we would be all going to the same place at lest then we could comfort one another in our time of pain. But i well be here in Nova Scotia and oh sea pines yes my doctor is Drew Bethune as far as my surgery he well go through my armpit and do a partial scalenectomy and remove a rib i think any way. He well go over every thing be for they but me under. I have faith in him he has done hundreds of these surgeries. And yes i well be praying hard for a cutie male nurse and that he well be around in time for the sponge bath ha ha ha.

MuckerI don't know about the male nurse. Your'e usually not at your best after surgery. I had one after my disc replacement. Took bone from my hip. Not fun having a male nurse checking your incision!

Best of luck to all of you! Make sure you rest and take care of yourselves!

Linda

Alison- you are right, i am here with Dr Ahn in LA, right side rib resection +partial scalenectomy. for those wondering, no i am not all better from the left side but i have seen some improvement. Still hoping for more for sure.


Fall is always such a busy time for my family...soccer season starts up, the kids birthdays all go aug, sept, oct, school starting (my little kids both start a new one on sep 5) i am just not coping very well. I feel like my head is splitting open and my brains are flying away to the sky.

result- i am not feeling happy or excited about this surgery, just scared and worried about how to get through with a lot less help than I had hoped from my parents/inlaws. My hubby is also very emotionally drained right now, and instead of finding a way to pump eachother up we seem to be in a bad downward spiral...i can't wait till it's over.

funny how we pretty much will be spread evenly across north america having our surgeries- LA, Denver, and Nova Scotia.

thanks to everyone for your well wishes, they really mean a lot to me.

ok as a nurse I worked with very few male nurses....but the ones I did work with three out of about 50 of us......one was gay but in denial or refused to tell us....the other one was very happily married with kids and a damn amazing nurse Jeff I hope you are still nursing in Oncology!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry...ok
so the third was a huge playa!!!!! nasty boy couldn't trust him but a good nurse.....not good to talk to but good looking.....so if they are there remember a huge portion of them were not interested....sorry gals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i digress.....so hugs gentle ones.....as sea pines says.....pre surgery feelings....I was sort of detached I tried not to think of it and it worked denial and ignorance is a great thing!!! lol.....so I just kept up the facade of pain and ignorance and then after felt pain but such a different kind...ACUTE not the chronic kind!!!!!!!!! so it was liberating!

so again best of luck to our power of three!

love and hugs,
Victoria

Victoria- i can honestly say that 10 or 11 months ago I would have never thought I would read the words "liberating" and "ACUTE" pain in the same sentence!! But you're right, I think.
JKat- I hope you get more help than you think you will from your outlaws....errr in laws.
Mucker - again, good luck, and hope it turns out great!!!
I (hate?) TOS- first... GREAT screenname. and.... best of luck with the surgery. I forget- are you living in denver, or will you be staying there for a while after surgery? again....take it easy.

best of luck to all.... Prayers and thoughts and crossed fingers, all that, so that it all goes well for you 3.

HI,
My surgery will be in Denver with Dr. Sanders. I don't know what surgery exactly, but i know his approach. I have spoken to him twice by phone in the last year and he is very attentive to detail and very compassionate.

I know for sure i have TOS on the right, (arterial & neural) but not sure about the left. 1 vascular doc said its bilateral, another said just the right side . The last arterial doppler showed mild compression on the left. The compression on the right is severe. Most of my symptoms are on the right.

Right side:
Ulnar nerve has been numb for 18 months.
Pain in foreram, hand, elbow, posterior shoulder, neck & ribcage. The ribcage pain is horrid!!!
Burning pain near armpit.
Electrical shock feeling tip of my pinky finger.

Left side:
Pain in elbow, posterior shoulder and neck. Feels like spasms now in my scalenes on the left.
Tendonitis in forearm.

Meds I take currently:
zoloft, soma, dilaudud, phenergan, prevacid, fioricet for migraines, ketamine topical cream 6% as needed for burning pain.

Meds I have tried: amitriptyline, nortriptyline, flexeril, topamax, cymbalta, vicoden, and lyrica. Botox injections in my scalene muscles in May and again in July this year.

Therapy I've done:
4 months of the "denver protocol" therapy till my symptoms got worse. (Nerve)
3 months of aqua therapy. Symptoms got worse. (Vascular & nerve)
Sharon Butler TOS booklet exercises.

I feel I have done everything possible to educate myself on this the last 18 months. At this point I am going to put my faith in God and Dr. Sanders that I may get some relief from this pain. I'm trying my best to let Dr. Sanders decide my fate as to which surgery is the best for my situation.

Yes ihtos stands for I HATE tos. How did you know that allison? lol

Dabbo, no I live in Ohio. I will be Denver a week. My mother and hubby will be taking good care of me during and after the surgery. I have a vascular surgeon here who said he will be willing to look after me once I get back
home.

One piece of advice I have for anyone at this point....

Make sure you get all your paperwork and medical documents at each visit. My insurance doesn't require a referral ,but I have learned to get one anyway so that a report will be sent to my PCP. I make copies of everything on computer and update it constantly. Makes it so much easier when you are seeing a new specialist. And also, alot of Doctors do not bother to fill out papers that social security disability sends them, or they don't send them back till it's too late. Don't be afraid to call and bug them to get what you need. I wish I hadn't been so timid about bothering their busy offices.

Thanks to everyone, and if I can help anyone please let me know.