More Info on My Surgery

Here's a basic diagram of what's going on with my arm/shoulder (copied from http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/generateexhibit.php?ID=5&ExhibitKeywordsRaw=&TL=&A=2). This is a picture showing the left shoulder and side of the neck, and sternum. Under the normal anatomy picture on the left, you can see a vein (blue), an artery (red) and nerves (yellow) going under the collarbone and above the top rib. You can also see two muscles attaching to the two ribs shown in the picture. My case looks somewhat like the "post accident" picture on the right side where the muscles are enlarged, bringing the rib up higher and pinching the nerves, artery and vein. Except my muscles aren't enlarged because of an accident, it's due to working out and carrying a heavy pack on my shoulders. Also, when I carry that pack, it pushes the collar bone down a bit making it even worse.
The picture also shows the surgery I will have, removing those muscles and the rib. As you can see, there's a lot more room for my little veins, arteries and nerves to happily move about.

I go in for pre-op stuff and an angiogram on the 30th, and surgery on the 1st of July. Barring any other issues with my stubborn vein, I'll be back to full duty around the first week in August.