Hi, This question is for Beth since I know you had a Pec Minor release a awhile back but I'd love to hear from anyone who has any input on this topic. Beth, can you tell me whether you got any relief from the Pec minor release above and beyonod the rib resection, and if so, specifically what symptoms it imrpoved? has the improvement been longterm? I rememember that your incision site got infected but other than that what was the recovery like - were you able to use your arm/hand fairly soon after the procedure? Did you have the procedure done on both sides?

Sorry for the thousand questions - it's just that i thought i was just about done w/ surgeries and all that, and then Dr. Sanders (who did my TOS surgeries in 2004) called a few months ago and told me he has started doing the Pec minor Release procedure,and that i might be a good candidate since i didn't get much pain relief from the TOs decompression surgery. I really didn't seriously consider it at first, for a variety of reasons - 1) the symptoms he described it helping didn't seem to really match the places where i still have pain, and 2) not sure i really want to go through more surgery again !! So in a nutshell, if there's any info you can share about your Pec Minor procedures, I'd be very grateful. It's so hard to know what to do sometimes, isn't it?

Many thx & hugs,
nolina

Hi Nolina,

I had bi-lateral pec minor releases in 4/05. The day before, I had a nerve block done on the left side pec minor to determine if I was going to get any relief from the procedure. It was great that day and into the next - so surgery was scheduled for 4pm that day. I believe it was an hour and a half planned for the procedure, but when Dr. A got in there, he found an 'extra' scalene muscle on the left side - so that was removed, making the procedure longer than expected.

It's interesting to note that the left side - which had the most work done on it - had NO bruising, little swelling and didnt hurt much at all. I think the nerve block kept everything inside there 'calm'. While my right side was gnarley looking, black and blue, swolen and HURT. The nerves were ****** for many weeks afterwards.

I stayed overnite in the hospital, flew home to FL the next afternoon, and was even cleared to push my luggage, as long as it was PUSHED (not pulled) and directly in front of my body. Sis picked me up at the airport, and for about a week I stayed in my jammies, was able to shower and wash hair in a modified way. Needed lots of ice!! I STILL use ice nearly daily on the surgery sites.

I think it's helped in that it's keeping the pesky muscle spasms in the traps and scalenes to a minimum. However... ...I feel that my triceps and biceps are being torn, trying to compensate for the loss of 'stability' the pec minors give the arm when using it for lifting away from the body. Hope that made sense. You are going to lose functionality - you'll never be able to do things where you need to 'press inward' against your arms (like isometrics), like picking up a child. Weigh the benefits (pain reduction) against the pitfalls before you decide to do this. If I had it to do over again, I'd not have done the pec minor releases... but done repetitive nerve blocks.

All the best,
Anne

Hi Anne, Thanks so much for sharing your experience - that was tremendously helpful! As a stubborn gardener who just can;t resist getting out there and digging in the dirt every couple of months - no matter how badly i pay for it later - i think you gave me my answer!!!

Hugs
Nolina

If you try the nerve blocks for a time and find they arent helping, you can always revisit the pec minor release at that time.

Can't do that vice-versa.
Anne

bump for ann