Cubital Tunnel Surgery...Update
I’m now post surgery, a little over 2 months. I have cubital tunnel in both arms. I had surgery back in June for the right arm...still have the left yet...
I kept the photo really small because it still ain't pretty. If you are the curious sort, click it and it will enlarge. After the healing process, I'm hoping the scar will be about 6 inches.
I have all my fine motors back, full ROM, no cramping, no real pain, the surgery site still feels a little tight; I can place it down on a hard surface and not come unglued but I normally use a gel pad.
My elbow joint still bothers it pressed on, I still have a slight bruise there. Very little numbness, it comes and goes. If I ice it, the numbness will fade quickly. I still have a lot of swelling if I don’t wear my compression sleeve (as you can see in the pic, I had it off for too long ). I still have to ice several times a day, depending on how much I bend my elbow.
I don’t have the strength back fully but I’m working on
it, my arm tires much faster than before surgery. My issues main issues are swelling, a little
achy, and vibration (driving, dremels, vacuum, blow dryer). Under the suture
line, which is tender, I have a couple areas that are lumpy but that is fading
with massage. I changed docs recently and he’d be doing the next surgery on the
left.
I’m not back to work on the torch, not until I get the left elbow done…most
likely, I will never be able to go back to the torch. All-in-all, I’m glad I had the surgery but
I’m not looking forward to the next surgery though.
Normally I wouldn't take photos nor do this big of an update on my health but...I looked all over the Internet for people that had the surgery but didn't find many. So I'm sharing to help the next person. So let me be blunt here, the surgery isn't bad but the post op recovery hurts like a son of bitch...it's a long, boring recovery.
BTW, what I had done was a right ulnar nerve compression at the cubital tunnel...or it is also called in situ decompression. A carpal tunnel release is one decompression. An in situ is five decompressions...plus I had part of a muscle removed.
Full recovery for is procedure is 6-12 months normally...you start feeling human (or I did) about 6-7 weeks. It sometimes up to 2 years because the ulnar nerve grows back very slowly and is very unforgiving.
I will be back blogging in the near future...until then...
Later Gators,
~Moon