Life time of blood thinners or surgery?
28year old female. In December, I had a blood clot in my arm, was in icu. In March I had a follow up appointment with vascular surgeon and was diagnosed with TOS, and also found out that I had another small blood clot.
They suggested a venogram lysis and then a first rib resection during that appointment. I’m on blood thinners now while I’m deciding what to do.
Vascular surgeon said with rib resection I’d have a 10-20% of getting another big clot in my lifetime. Without surgery I’d have a 50% chance.
Up until my icu stay, I had no idea anything was wrong. My arm feels fine, maybe a little tight, but I chocked that up to my slight scoliosis and by skeletal frame being asymmetric (I have back pain issues every now and then too).
I didn’t want to get surgery if I can be fine on blood thinners and don’t have any other issues, but am worried that if I wait till I’m like 50, Ill get nerve damage or other issues and will be worse off, plus I feel like surgery then will be harder on my body.
Does the surgery really suck? Do you think it’s worth it to get it out of the way now? Or should I try to avoid it as long as possible?