Ribs pain/discomfort and cording Post Radiation!

dpms

My mom had a modified radical mastectomy on her right breast on December 10, 2012. She had stage 3A breast cancer. 

She has now completed her Chemotherapy which consisted of the ACT regiment, and just last week finished her radiation. 

Since even before her radiation she had started to experience EXTREME tightness on her chestwall which of course only got much much worse during radiation. She said it feels like she is wearing an iron bra that is 3 sizes too small and just pulling at her chest.

After being passed around from one doc to another, an excellent physical therapist found that she had developed major scar tissue and cording that goes from her underarm to about the middle of the incision on her chest wall. 

We have been told PT can help break the cording, but it seems my mom's is deep set. We have recently learned that surgery (after 6 months) may be an option. Has anyone else heard of this? Where a breast plastic surgeon can go in and clean out the scar tissue and break the cording to give a release to all the tightness. 

Has anyone else had this done? If so, how did it go? How did you find the surgeon? Were there any side effects/risks to this kind of surgery? 

Also towards the end of the radiation, and more so now, her ribs feel like they are poking her in the underarm area, and just making her feel like her arm is caught between the ribs? We were told that the radiation has thinned her tissue hence that is why she may be feeling this? is it true? Also because of the cording/scar tissue, her shoulder is being pulled down, and she feel like her arm is now resting on her ribs... 

The ribs have become a new cause for immense discomfort all the time. 

Between the excuricating tightness on the chest wall and the ribs, my mom feels depressed, like she is handicapped, and in 24/7 pain. 

We feel so frustrated, and hoping we may find more answers here. The doctors arent very helpful, unless we ask the right questions and really be proactive. Would love to learn from your experiences.