#rib resection

Yesterday was my birthday!

In the past I typically love celebrating my birthday! That normally involves either game nights with friends or a fun trip. Last year and now this year due to health issues those things have been difficult to do.. Last year I was fresh out of surgery and this year I'm just a few days away from a major surgery. Because I can't do much to celebrate I figured I would share my wishlist for surgery recovery items. Since I have fibromyalgia I need all the recovery help I can get! I'm so ready for the surgery but I also know that recovery is going to be rough!

The wishlist link is here

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/21DWNBKK7SDHD?ref_=wl_share

And if you don't want to use Amazon, my PayPal and Venmo are both @SelinaMariaA and CashApp is $SelinaMAngotti

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15992186

Author: melodiousb

Rating: General Audiences

Relationships: Kim Seokjin/Min Yoongi

Status: Completed

Chapters: 1/1 (3493 words)

Tags: Canonverse

Summary:

Seokjin will go along with the joke, though, first because it’s fun to make Yoongi make mean faces, and second because, well. There’s something about his knees.

When a Name Has Power

Naming things has power, and I like to give my enemies names.

For years now, I have asked my veritable fleet of doctors why I have ham hands. (That’s the technical term, of course.)

This glorious gif exists. You’re welcome.

Ham hands are what my hands became after the first car accident. I wielded objects like two ham were hocks strapped to my wrists instead of appendages. Occasionally, I’d drop…

Today we took son number 2, aka Missouri, to the orthopedist knowing we would walk out with the number for Rocky, the surgery scheduler. Missouri has complained about shoulder pain since working on the Butterfly Stroke in winter swim last April. He has had MRIs, PT and steroid injections and nothing has brought relief. We knew the next step was arthroscopic subacromial decompression to relieve shoulder impingement syndrome. (No, we haven’t memorized the phrase yet.) Our son is going to have shoulder surgery in 5 weeks and we aren’t freaking out! How can that be?

Well that is what happens when you've already ventured down a similar path, in our case with son number 1, M&M. Three months ago we reached the same point with M&M with slipping rib syndrome which lead to a bilateral rib resection. I questioned the decision even as I sat in the lobby while he was in the O.R. It was terrifying and that was before we knew how long and hard the recovery would be and that it would lead to withdrawing him from his school and enrolling him in an on-line academy. After 3 months of experiencing surgery and recovery for a rib resection, a phrase I can remember, scheduling arthroscopic subacromial decompression to relieve shoulder impingement syndrome seems like a walk on the beach, even if I don’t have it memorized.

As of May 2011, I am now having the same symptoms I had in my right arm except now on my left. I am constantly sore and experiencing dull pain and a tingling sensation from my neck down into my pinky and ring finger. 

Since the surgery on my right side I have been BASICALLY pain free. Some days are better than others and I still get the tingling sensation sometimes, but it has definitely improved and the pain is now manageable...which is more than I can say about what I am now experiencing on my left side. 

In October of 2007 I was a senior in high school and captain of the color guard team. During a Tuesday night practice with the team I was out on the football field when I noticed the my right arm was a tint of purple. It hadn't really been hurting before but after practice that night my arm was tingling like it was asleep and I was sore around my collarbone. I went to a doctor the next day and I was diagnosed with a pinched nerve. They gave me some pain killers and prescribed physical therapy. Physical therapy was a personal hell. The deep tissue massages gave me indescribable pain. After 3 weeks of going to a physical therapist that was 30 minutes from my house I requested a different physical therapist that was only five minutes away. I kept going to appointments with my new physical therapist into December of 2007.

Meanwhile, my symptoms were getting worse. The tingling and dull pain down my right arm and into my pinky finger were keeping me up at night. I was in pain all the time and I was losing sleep. Pain medication was not giving me any relief and the physical therapy was not helping my "pinched nerve". 

At a physical therapy appointment in January of 2008, the therapist I had that day had me repeat my symptoms to him. He had a concerned look on his face, left the room, and returned with a huge red medical book. After flipping through the pages, he showed me a page titled "Thoracic Outlet Syndrome". He copied the pages off for me and I took them home to show my mom. I had hope that we finally found the answer. (There is a link at the bottom to a website that will give you an overview and symptoms of TOS.)

Through the next few months I went through numerous tests. Xrays, MRI's, CT Scans, sonograms. It was exhausting. The sonogram was the test that showed the best results. The doctor took my right arm and held it over my head-he wasn't able to find my pulse. He took the end of the ultrasound machine and showed the difference in my blood flow with my right arm over my head and with it down at my side. It was an overwhelming difference. Even with my arm at my side the blood flow was slow. Please also understand that even though the ultrasound showed what was happening to my blood flow, it was not showing how constricted my nerves were as well. 

I was diagnosed in 2008 with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

I have been wanting to share my story over the years and due to recent events I have decided that I should share my experiences with other people in hopes to be some sort of help. 

I think the best way to tell my story is from the beginning in different posts.