I started diving when I was about 13.
The first time I noticed anything weird with my arm was my freshman year of college. I
was just diving in normal practice and my hand just sort of went numb and I ended up
telling my coach.
He sent me over to the athletic trainer immediately and he sort of checked it out, and he sent
me to the Sports Medicine Clinic here at Stanford.
And so they put me on a dose of steroids. And I didn't notice it for a little while
after that.
When it really got bad was early that next fall. I woke up in the morning and I bent
down to pick up my shoe, and my left hand wouldn't grip my shoe.
That was pretty scary. And so, the Sports Medicine Clinic finally just thought, "Okay,
shot in the dark, let's send him to Vascular."
That was when I met Jason Lee, and he tells me, "Oh, you have what we call Thoracic Outlet
Syndrome."
What Thoracic Outlet Syndrome is, basically, is an overuse injury. The nerve, artery and
vein, travel through this small region that's bounded by the clavicle, the collarbone, the
first rib and the scalene muscle. Those three structures can be significantly compressed
with repetitive motion.
TOS is very challenging to diagnose. But one of the advantages of working here at Stanford
is the multi-disciplinary collaboration between specialties really allows more rapid diagnosis.
As soon as we start to suspect TOS, one of the first tests we'll do is a vascular ultrasound
in order to visualize blood flow to the fingers. Then we have the patients put their arm in
different positions and we see that if in that position the blood flow is decreased.
So Dr. Lee told me that I would have to go on what is called the Edgelow protocol.
This protocol involves a lot of breathing and posture and what that does, is it loosens
the scalene muscles and tries to bring the rib and the collarbone away from each other
in order to provide a little bit more space.
Depending on how successful that was, the next option was surgery, which was to remove
my first rib.
Some days I would wake up and I'd feel fine, and others I literally, couldn't lift my wrist
to put on my clothing. and I just remember thinking, "Am I ever going to be able to dive?
Am I ever gonna be normal again?"
Initially, I saw a big decrease in symptoms, but as I continued, my progress sort of plateaued.
A couple of months later, I had the surgery.
By removing the rib, you create an environment where the nerve no longer is compressed with
the movements. We've had over a 90% success rate documented on quality of life surveys,
as well as about a 70% return to sport rate.
I think it was three or four months after the surgery that I started diving again, but
very restricted.
I didn't even really expect to make the NCAA Championships. I remember standing up on the
platform my last dive thinking, not only, "This is your last dive of your career, but
what it took to get to this point."
I consoled finaled on both the three meter springboard and the platform event. So, I'm
a NCAA Division I All-American in two events.
I honestly did not think that I was going to get back up there. So, it was a great feeling
to be able to say that I did it. But I know that it wouldn't have been possible the medical
team here at Stanford, and especially Dr. Lee.