My experience with a rare sports injury – Verde Magazine

I woke up to a knock on my door. A mixture of vascular surgeons and residents entered my hospital room to explain the surgical interventions that they would carry out in less than an hour. My right arm lay next to me, completely limp and on two pillows, a mixture of purple and dark red, swollen from my shoulder to my hand. It was still early in the morning; The sun had not yet increased, and I was too tired to listen or take care of what the team said. The only words that were important were the last things one of the surgeons said before they left the room: “You will probably be on the road for the season.”

The previous 48 hours had been hectic. Two days earlier, my right arm was great two days earlier for the Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto High School) two days earlier. I went through my extensive warm -up routine, played Fang and even threw two innings in a scrimmage. After training I looked down on my right arm. It was unusually light red and swollen. Although my arm was worrying, I was on and I assumed that some ice and calm would help return it to its normal color.

However, when the color was not solved the next morning, I finally went into the emergency room and was diagnosed with an injury that I had never heard of before: Venous Thoracic Outlet syndrome (TOS).

TOS is an extremely rare disease that mainly affects athletes that use repeating overhead brown movements such as baseball jugs or swimmers that influence nerves or blood vessels in the shoulder and upper breast. Jason Lee, doctor and chief of vascular surgery, said that the condition occurs if the affected vein does not have enough space between the first rib and the patient's collarbone, which leads to a blood clot.

My first hospital visit lasted two days and comprised two separate procedures in a period of 12 hours to break up the clot with blood -thinning medication, on which I would probably stay until the end of May.

At the beginning of March I also carried out a rib resection in which part of my first rib was removed, which compressed my subclavic vein. Lee, who carried out the operation, said the process would decompress the shoulder area and prevent future blood clots.

“The aim of this operation is to create more space so that the vein will not be compressed in the future or the body is no longer at risk,” said Lee. “It enables the athlete to return to his usual activities.”

Lee said that 80 to 90% of the patients carry out successful treatment by completely removing the blood clot and reopens the vein, still have patients with complications and need additional treatment. Sometimes their veins never return to their full function before the injury. During a follow-up date three weeks after my rib resection, the doctors found that my subclavia vein had collapsed again. I have subjected two more interventions to open my vein back in a month.

I was destroyed. After four operations, I wondered if I could do the same activities that I carried out before the injury and whether I could ever throw a baseball again.

After talking to doctors and through physiotherapy to regain my strength and mobility after my operations, I realized that every recovery process was unique. Although mine may take longer than most others and will probably heal differently, my body will find a way to adapt and live with an impaired subclavic vein.

“The blood flow in the body is an amazing thing,” said Lee. “If something is narrowed or blocked, the body finds itself, so -called collateral or detours where the body heals itself so that the patient can compensate for some blockages that could be there.”

In the past I had taken my health for granted. I lacked my last baseball season, in which I entered so much time and effort to make my injury physically and mentally difficult. However, it made it possible for me to take part in other activities, such as the trainer of Little League Baseball in East Palo Alto. I was able to make peace with the fact that my arm does not heal perfectly, but still achieve a positive recovery and to play the sport I love.