The Third Arm is Free!

Today I had my stitches from my Carpal Tunnel Release and Decompression of Guyon's Canal on my left hand removed. Lucky for me, Dr. Millard does both procedures through a single incision because I was not looking forward to having the stitches removed. I really wanted the splint off since it was starting to get funky and was itchy but when I had the stitches out of my right hand, it hurt like crazy. This time, a different resident removed the stitches and it wasn't nearly as painful. He made quick work of the stitches and said that the better they are put in, the easier they come out. Since the last resident told me that he'd done my Carpal/Guyon on the right hand and I'm pretty sure Dr. Millard alone did the left, maybe that's true. Dr. Millard seems to be pretty damn good with sutures since my elbow incision is tiny and you can barely see the scar.

I did notice that the side of my hand below my pinkie is numb, a result of the ulnar nerve being disrupted in the Decompression of Guyon's Canal. Since I'm no newcomer to the slowness of nerves healing, I'm sure it will come back in time. I just hope it's not too long. The numbness in my elbow still creeps me out...I don't really know how I'd feel about long term or permanent numbness in my hand.

15 days post-op and there's still faint bruising in my palm, and pretty nasty bruising on my wrist a good inch to three inches below the incision. The incision site itself is still pretty swollen, the heel of my palm pretty puffy and raised compared to my other hand. The incision itself is about an inch long and nice and scabby. You can see the purple marker Dr. Millard used to mark the site as well as his lovely G.M. initials on my arm from our pre-surgery consult. I'll have to scrub that puppy off!

Dr. Millard didn't say much other than look at the hand real quick, tell me not to lift anything heavy or do too much for a while. Told me to give it a few days and then start massaging the incision to break down the scar tissue (not my favorite) and then told me he'd see me in 4 weeks. I did ask him if he'd give me a discount on the third arm but he either didn't get it or the doctor in him just heard "discount" and immediately said no. Oh well, I guess surgeons don't have much sense of humor!

So it's back to wearing a wrist brace for 4 weeks but I won't complain. At least I can type better now and I won't have to wear a trash bag in the shower anymore!

Uh, chopsticks weren't meant for that sweetie...

Just a quick update eight days post surgery. Things are going well. I went back to work two days after surgery, working from home one day and then heading back into the office. I haven't had any pain meds aside from Tylenol since Wednesday night, three days after surgery. Overall, I'm feeling good aside from some moments of very minor irritation. It seems like the side of my hand beneath my pinkie may be numb but I can't really tell at this point. Working has been less difficult than I anticipated and compared to going back to work 3 weeks after surgery on my right arm. I can actually use my fingers really well and really my only inhibitor is the bulk of the splint in the area of my palm preventing my fingers from really stretching out when typing.

My chief and only real complaint....the insane itching! I really want this splint off! I don't remember the itching being this bad with my right arm and that splint went all the way up over my elbow. I've even taken to shoving a chopstick under the splint in an effort to scratch and relieve the itching. I don't get the splint off for another 7 days and I can't wait (although, I'm not looking forward to getting the stitches removed....YOWZAH!!!)

Hey, are these things actually attached to my hand?

Yesterday I had my Carpal Tunnel Release and Decompression of Guyon's Canal on my left hand. Things went a little smoother this time since they only used a local nerve block in my hand instead of knocking me out with anaesthesia.

The whole routine was pretty familiar when we arrived at 6:45 am. Last time Dr. Millard's first surgery had gotten cancelled so they were able to move me up and we really didn't have to wait long. This time we didn't have the same luck and we had to sit around and wait for a little over 2 hours before they took me back to the operating room. This time, I told the anaesthesiologist about my problems with nausea and they loaded me up on anti-nausea meds along with a transdermal patch.

Once they wheeled me down to the operating room, I was awake for a while longer than I had been the first time. They strapped this big black cuff to my upper arm and then wrapped the arm super tight to put the block in. They put me into a twilight sleep and I didn't feel or hear anything until I started to wake up after it was over and they were bandaging up my arm. I was able to get myself over to the gurney on my own and they took me right back to the pre-op floor where I'd been before surgery. I felt pretty good at that point, no nausea and really no pain since the block was still working. The nurse gave me some crackers and water so I could take a percoset. Jeff came right back and I said I felt okay enough to get dressed and go to the bathroom. After that, the nurse said I could leave and I was able to walk down to the car. All in all, surgery started a little after 9:00, I was back in recovery by 9:45 or so and left by 10:30 am. What a huge difference from October when I was in recovery for 4 hours because I was so sick!

We stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to get my prescription for percoset and then headed home. Aside from feeling groggy, I've felt pretty good. I'm taking percosets every 4 hours to stay on top of any pain but I hope to be off of it in a couple of days. My hand is still extremely numb with only some severe tingling when I touch my fingers. They said the block should wear off pretty quickly but that doesn't appear to be the case. It's now been about 24 hours. I guess if its not wearing off by tomorrow, I'll call Dr. Millard just to check in to see if he has any concerns.

The plan is to work from home tomorrow and then go back to work Thursday as long as everything looks good. I'm really hoping to get a lot more feeling back in my fingers today.

Buy One, Get One...Well...for Double the Cost

Today I went back to see my favorite South African Ortho surgeon to discuss the results of my NCS and EMG tests. Since the tests only showed a mild recurrence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (which I'm told never completely goes away) in my right arm, Dr. Millard advised me to give the nerve more time to heal and to do some nerve stretches. Nerves can take months if not years to heal so I'm stuck dealing with the recurring pain in my right arm.

I also asked Dr. Millard about the mystery bump which had appeared just on the outside of the bony tip on the right elbow. He said it was likely a slipped tendon but he hadn't done any work on that side of the elbow at all so it wasn't related to the surgery. I also told him that most people who have a Subcutaneous Transposition report 3-6 inch scars and the pics look pretty ugly but he somehow managed to give me this really faint 2 inch scar. His response was that he always thought he should have been a plastic surgeon!

Anyway, the tests had also confirmed Carpal Tunnel and Guyon Canal Syndromes in my left arm which was previously undiagnosed. At this point, Dr. Millard said the way to proceed was up to me. But given the history I had with my right arm, he suggested that I'd eventually end up having surgery but he couldn't advise when. So I can wait until the arm gets worse or go ahead with surgery now while it's still not that bad. My feeling on it is that it will be easier to recovery if the damage is less severe and I'd also rather get it over with.

The good news is that since this is my left arm and there's no indication of Cubital Tunnel Syndrome in my elbow, I'll only have to miss a few days of work and then I should be okay to return and just take things slow with one hand. I can also work from home if needed. So my second surgery is scheduled for April 26th, a little over 6 months after the first one. I'll have to withdraw from school for the Spring quarter but I should be pretty well healed by the Summer session.

Hey, I'm Bilateral!

So I finally sucked it up and decided to go back to see Dr. Millard. The big clencher was that I'm coming up on the end of my quarter at school and on the very slim chance he says I need to go back in for more surgery, I will have to withdraw from school again so I need to know sooner rather than later.

When Dr. Millard came in, he immediately said "So which arm are you here for this time?" which I thought was pretty amusing since I'd spent a very uncomfortable night the night before with BOTH arms hurting. I'd had a few symptoms off and on in my left arm since the summer but nothing major so I'd never brought it up. But I suppose now is as good a time as any. I told him that the pain in my right arm had been consistent over the past few weeks and I had some similar symptoms in my left as well. And much to my chagrin and totally expected, he said he was sending me back for another EMG and NCS but this time in both arms for the ulnar nerve in the elbow as well as the Guyon Canal and Carpal Tunnel in the wrist. I was really not looking forward to the needles and electric shocks again.

My second experience with an EMG and NCS was no more fun than the first one, in fact it was definitely worse. Mostly because it was doubled since this time I was tested in both arms. The tests were done this time by Dr. Rossi, a colleague of Dr. Millard's. First he did the Nerve Conduction Study (NCS) which isn't really fun but not horrible. The shocks can really make you jump and some hurt a little. Next came the Electromyography (EMG) test. This one is not fun! He took a small needle and poked it in various muscles of my arm and hand. Each time he placed it in a muscle, he dug it around and then would have me flex the muscle so he could listen and see the electrical activity of my arm. Flexing against a needle is quite painful. The worst places were when the needle was in my hand.

Afterwards, my hands hurt a lot and my arms just felt overall sore as if they had been worked really hard or were bruised. Dr. Rossi said that based on what he saw, I still had mild Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my right hand and mild Carpal and Guyon Canal Syndromes in my left, which was previously undiagnosed. I'm officially bilateral. So based on his results, there's no reason for me to have pain in my right pinkie finger or elbow, something I don't buy. So basically, the torture tests are inconclusive in my book. He can't tell me that I don't have pain when I do. Now I just have to wait to see what Dr. Millard says.

The Pain Returns...

So it's mid March and suddenly I'm having issues again. My little finger and sometimes my ring finger are aching and sometimes my elbow feels sore and tender. I still get random feelings of being stabbed in the elbow with needles. I'm not sure if it's a result of more work being thrown at me since I switched jobs or if it's the result of something else.

On February 15th, I was at the movies with Rhys when I hit my elbow really hard on the arm rest. I very nearly let loose with some pretty bad words right in the middle of the movie but managed to hold my tongue which was a really good thing since it was a kids movie and the place was full of kids and their parents. Afterwards, my elbow was pretty tender for a couple of days.

Then last week, I was checking out my scar on my elbow (which is fading really well) in the bathroom mirror. I had my arm bent all the way back so my hand was touching my shoulder and I noticed a raised white line on the outside of my epicondyle (the boney bump of your elbow). Now, I've checked out me elbow a lot over the past few months and I've NEVER seen this raised line before. And there's no matching raised area on my other elbow either. When I run a finger over it, it's numb like novacaine. The area is about a centimeter long.

I'm pretty sure that it's not normal to be able to see a ligament or tendon or something suddenly appear where it wasn't visible before. It seems awfully unprotected from injury if I can see it with the naked eye just by bending my arm. I can't even imagine hitting it at this point. The thought makes me sick to my stomach.

So now I'm playing a waiting game. I'm hoping the pain that seems to have come at the same time as this suspicious raised bump is just the added stress of more work and will resolve itself. If not, I'll have to consult back with Dr. Millard and I really don't want to do that. I really don't think there's much else he can do on my right arm. Here's hoping that it all works itself out!

Wow, 4 Months!

I can't believe that in a few days it will have been 4 months since I had surgery. In general, things are going well. I'm not really sure what I expected to feel like 4 months out so I can't say that I'm better or worse than expected. I still have some numbness in my elbow and some of that may never go away. But it doesn't really bother me per se, it's just kind of weird - like novacaine from the dentist or something. Most of the time, I don't notice it unless I touch my elbow or I try to lean on it which is still uncomfortable. I also still get random nerve firings in my elbow which feel like some evil invisible elf suddenly stabbed me with a needle in my elbow. The feeling generally last for a few seconds and then goes away.

I'd say my chief and only real complaint, is that my little finger is still hurting. From what I can tell, this is primarily a result of the cold as it doesn't seem to really ache when my hands are warm. So I've taken to wearing a fingerless glove at work when it starts to hurt or shove my hand in a pocket to try to warm it up. Dr. Millard had said to come back in a couple of months if I was still having pain but I think I will wait until warmer weather to see if the pain goes away. I'm not really sure that he could do anything else at this point anyway except maybe cortisone shots and after having stitches pulled out of my palm, I'm not so keen on the idea of a shot in my hand!

Six Weeks Post-Op

It's now been six weeks since my surgery. Today I met with Dr. Millard for hopefully the last time and I'm now wrist brace free for the first time in about 4 months. It actually feels weird! I'm wearing an ace bandage around my hand/wrist for some support and because my hand incision is still really tender. Pressing on the incision is painful so typing on a computer actually hurts because my hand rests right on the incision. The ace bandage gives me some padding.

My hand is slowly getting better. I can curl my fingers into a fist, I just can't tighten them. I have no grip strength yet. I can't break the seal on a bottle so I have to ask others to do it for me. But I have all the dexterity back. I can type and do just about anything, I just don't have any strength. It will take time for me to regain the muscle that I lost after surgery. I'm sure Jeff will have lots of ideas on how to get that back.

There's still some swelling in the heel of my palm and apparently the scar tissue has built up pretty good. Dr. Millard told me to do deep tissue massage over the incision and when he pressed on it, it was quite painful. Pretty quickly he realized that I wasn't likely to press hard enough on my own hand because I'm really not into self-inflicted pain so he said I'd have to make Jeff do it. He said it was too bad Jeff wasn't there so he could tell him how hard to push and I just laughed and told him not to worry because Jeff had no problem causing me pain.

I did discuss the fact that I still have pain in my pinkie and ring fingers and asked how long I should give the pain to go away before I get concerned about it. He said if it's still painful in 2 months, then come back. Hopefully I don't have to see him again. I'm not sure what options would still be left to me after having surgery and I'd rather not have to find out.

My elbow is doing okay. I still can't straighten my arm all the way, but it's pretty close. The area around the incision is numb in some places and extremely tender in others. The back of my arm above my elbow is very sensitive to touch. Just having my hand or clothing rub across it can be uncomfortable. I also occasionally get a feeling like needles stabbing into my elbow which is always loads of fun! I expect all of this to get better over the next few months as the nerves continue to heal. My main concern is the pain in my fingers not going away and getting my functionality in my hand back.

Waking Up Is Hard To Do

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in post-op with someone asking me to wiggle my fingers. I did and said my arm hurt. The voice asked me to rate my pain and I gave it a 7. She put some meds in my IV and asked me again about 15 minutes later how my pain was. The pain was still bad so she gave me another injection. After 4 injections, some anti-nausea meds and a percoset, the pain finally went down to a 4. By now, I'd been in post-op for 2 hours and apparently Jeff was starting to get worried because they called up asking about me. After a bout of losing my stomach because of all the drugs, they finally took be back down to recovery.

Once back in recovery, they finally let Jeff back to see me. He helped me get dressed but I was still nauseous so they wouldn't let me leave yet. I kept my arm elevated and tried not to puke when I sat up. Finally, after a couple more hours, they went ahead and let me leave even though I was still sick to my stomach. I was wheeled to the car and off we went, vomit bag tightly in hand.

Once we got home, I crashed on the bed I'd created the night before on the couch, keeping my arm elevated. After that, I just slept, waking only to take Percosets every 4 hours whether I hurt or not. Staying on top of the pain was one of the best pieces of advice I received and I even set my cell phone to wake me in the middle of the night to take more pain meds. I also used ice packs on my elbow which helped too. My hand was very swollen and I really couldn't move my fingers much at all.

After my first night, my husband had to go back to work but my 7 year old son, Rhys, was home with me. Mostly I dozed on the sofa or watched really bad daytime television. Lunch was difficult with just one arm but Rhys helped out and we managed to get fed. That night, my mother picked up Devyn from pre-school and brought over dinner since Jeff had to work late. But all in all, the first day wasn't too bad. Wednesday was pretty much the same.

I really didn't have any bad experiences until the Thurday after surgery. I went to sleep on the sofa at around 10:00 after taking a percocet. Around 11:30, I woke from a dead sleep and was nauseous and faint. Weird to wake from a dead sleep just to feel faint...I mean what's the point? I managed to get to the bathroom and called for Jeff who luckily was still awake upstairs (there's no way he would have heard me if he was asleep). He came barralling down the steps and found me laying on the bathroom floor, ready to pass out. After a few minutes, I felt able to get back to the sofa and Jeff sat with me. I was in a lot of pain at this point, the pinkie side of my wrist burning really bad. I took another percocet at midnight but it didn't really help. I was starting to wonder if I needed to go to the emergency room which would have been a real pain since we live about 30 minutes from the nearest hospital and we would have had to take our 7 year old and 4 year old with us.

Jeff sat up with me watching television while I writhed in pain on the sofa. Finally at about 2:00 in the morning, Jeff decided to go back to bed and I took yet another percocet. At around 2:30, I finally fell back asleep. The next morning, Jeff called off work and stayed home with me because we weren't sure if I'd need to go into see the doctor. At 8:00, I called the doctor and talked to his assistant. By now, I was feeling better and since I didn't have a fever, I was advised to just monitor how I was feeling and call back if the same scary symptoms returned. Basically, what probably happened was that my body suddenly caught up with itself and went into a mini shock. It was very scary but only lasted a few hours and was the only really bad time I had until the sutures were removed 12 days later.

Living in the arm splint for 15 days wasn't really so bad. I did pretty well at most tasks on my own. At first I asked for help with my socks but after a week, I was able to manage them on my own. I very wisely tied my running shoes very loosely in advance so I could just slip them on and off without untying or tying them again and threatened my husband with grave injury if he untied them. I pretty much lived in track pants or pajama bottoms and t-shirts the whole time so I didn't have to deal with buttons or zippers. Showering required assistance with tying a trash bag over the splint with a spare shoe lace and then Jeff stood outside the curtain and would squirt shampoo, conditioner or body wash when I thrust my hand out the curtain at him. Drying was a bit hard but managable.

Preparing food was difficult. With the Guyon and Carpal surgeries, my hand was completely useless. I couldn't open a jar or spread or cut anything. Trying to make eggs was laughable. I had to have the waitress at Bob Evans cut Rhys's pancakes for him. Driving was managable but probably not recommended. I had to reach through the passenger side to start the engine with my left hand and used a pillow on the middle console to prop up my elbow when driving.

I went back for my first post-op check at 15 days. By then, the splint was getting uncomfortable because the swelling in my elbow had gone down and it was rubbing and just didn't fit right anymore. The resident who'd assisted in my surgery, Dr. Mickelson, was the one to remove the splint and man did it feel weird! I get light-headed really easy anyway so when it came time to remove the sutures, I laid down. The elbow sutures burned but the hand hurt like hell! WOW, did having those suckers out ever hurt! And I was completely shocked to see only one incision in my palm. I had expected another incision for the Guyon Canal decompression but I assume they were able to do both the Carpal and the Guyon through the same incision. Dr. Mickelson kindly told me that he had been the one to do my hand and it only took him like 7 minutes. That didn't really make me feel better.

Dr. Millard inspected my incisions, put my wrist in a hard splint and told me not to lift anything heavy and to come back in 4 weeks before sending me on my merry way. I was amazed at how completely useless my hand was at this point. My elbow felt sore, like the muscles had been really badly bruised and the area around the elbow felt numb like novacaine.

Six days later, I returned to my job. My hand still felt pretty useless so I spent most of the first week using it sparingly and mostly typing left handed. By the second week back, my hand was improving and after the 4 weeks it was feeling fairly good. All in all, at the 6 week point, I felt pretty healed although I know it can take months or years for nerves to heal.

Surgery

I've already figured out that typing left handed is hard to do!

Surgery was Monday and now it's Friday evening. My husband, Jeff, and I arrived at Grant Hospital at 7:30 am. The nurses had called me the Thursday before and said my surgery was being pushed from 9:00 to 9:30. When we got to the hospital, we pulled right up to valet parking which was free for surgery patients. We went upto the second floor and right to a reception desk. The receptionist verified who I was, put on my hospital bracelet, and gave Jeff a card that had an ID number on it. When they were done with my surgery, they'd flash a message up on a tv in the waiting room to let him know I was done. The receptionist then callled back to the nurses and sent me right back.

The pre-op area was super nice. They weighed me and had me pee in a cup and then put me in a little room. I changed into my gown and footies and lay down on the gurney. The nurse asked me all sorts of questions and took my blood pressure. Another woman came in and took my ID and insurance card and then the on-call doctor came in. He listened to my lungs and asked me about my medical history since he'd be the doctor in charge of me after I got out of surgery. There was a struggle to get my IV started and eventually a second nurse had to put it in the back of my hand. While I was signing my consent forms, Dr. Millard and his resident, Dr. Mickelsen, came in. Dr. Millard asked me again if I knew what they were going to do to me and then nicely initialed my right arm. I guess he was claiming me as his own.

Dr. Millard left to go get changed and Dr. Mickelsen asked me some more questions about my history of symptoms. Then I was joined by the anastesiologist who asked me more questions. Jeff left at this point, taking my glasses with him so I was blind. Finally, I was left with the surgical nurse who was going to wheel me upstairs to the OR. All in all, I think I saw about 10 different people leading up to surgery time.

The trip to the OR was surreal. It was like on TV. The halls were empty and we just went up a surgical elevator and then right into the big brightly lit OR. There were a couple people waiting and they had me scoot over onto the operating table. As I was doing so, the nurse put something that burned into my IV. I lay back on the table and they put the mask over my face and someone asked me where my favorite vacation spot was. Then I was gone. Nothing.

Time for surgery!

Surgery is a little less than 2 days away. I'm not nervous yet, probably because I have too much to do! I finished editing my husband's cousin's wedding photos so I can get them into the mail. Now I'm doing all the things around the house that need to get done. Laundry, changing the sheets on the beds, vacuuming, etc.

We'll send Rhys to spend the night with my mom so she can drive him to school Monday morning and we'll drop Devyn off at daycare on our way to the hospital. We have to be at Grant by 7:30 in the morning. Surgery was pushed back half an hour or we would have had to be there by 7:00. I'm sure I won't sleep the night before and of course I'm not allowed anything to eat. The hospital has already called me twice, once to pre-register me and another call from the surgical nurse asking me about stuff like allergies, medical conditions, etc. Looks like this is really happening!

I've read a few really good blogs from other people who've had surgery and they've really helped to give me a good idea of what to expect (as well as you can from just reading anyway). But there are a few things that will be different for me. For starters, they were all men. There are just some things that a girl has to deal with men just don't understand. For example, it's going to be very difficult to put on a bra and shave with only my left hand. The other difference is that none of these guys had carpal tunnel and guyon canal decompressions at the same time as their cubital tunnel surgeries. So I'll be dealing with the added pain and recovery in my wrist/hand as well as my elbow.

I'll try to update the blog after surgery to let everyone know how things are going. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes! They are much appreciated!

3 more weeks...

Surgery is three weeks from tomorrow and I'm wishing it was sooner which makes me sound like one sick puppy. I thought I was doing pretty good but this past week, I feel like I'm getting worse. My pinkie finger on my right hand has really been bothering me so I've been wrapping my pinkie and ring finger to immobilize them which seems to make them feel better but takes away a lot of dexterity.

I came across this great website and forum for people with Cubital Tunnel and through that, was able to read the blog of another Cubital Tunnel sufferer who gave a really good account of what to expect from the Cubital (CuTS) part of the surgery. He gave really good tips and advice and I now have a better idea of what to expect. Of course, I'm actually having two more procedures than he did at the same time so I'm not sure how much of a difference that will make in my recovery versus his.

Over all, I'm just wishing that surgery could come sooner so I could get it over with and hopefully start feeling better.

The road to surgery...

So what's new with Karin? I'm having surgery! Not super-serious-could-cause-death-surgery but still it's the first (and hopefully only) time I've had surgery and it's my right arm so I'm nervous about the recovery afterwards and the long term results.

I've had wrist pain off and on for the past 8 years and my family doctor diagnosed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and told me to wear a wrist brace. When the pain would flare up, I'd wear the brace until it seemed better and then forget about it until it flared up again. Then in mid-July, I suddenly experienced severe pain from my right elbow down through my pinkie and ring fingers. My husband, Jeff, the wonderful Physical Therapist, said it was my ulnar nerve being pinched. After a week of it not getting any better, I went to my family doctor and he confirmed diagnosis, saying that the ulnar nerve is "trapped" in the Cubital Tunnel space in my elbow. He prescribed steroids and naproxen and told me to come back in 2 weeks when that didn't work.

That's right, he said it wouldn't work and that when I came back, he'd send me to the surgeon. 2 weeks later, I went back when the medicine didn't work like he said. By now, I was also having a recurring muscle spasm in the heel of my thumb. This time, the doctor sent me off for an EMG and then on to the surgeon.

Having an EMG is horrible. They strapped electrodes to my arm and sent electical shocks through my arm in varying degrees of intensity. It was like being shocked over and over again, harder and harder. Some of the shocks really hurt and some made my arm jump. Then, the doctor stabbed (and I mean STABBED) a needle into my arm and hand in various places to see if the nerve was conducting impulses all the way down my arm. Holy cow, that really hurt. Especially when he stabbed the needle in the skin between my thumb and first finger. The results confirmed evidence of Cubital Tunnel (entrapment of ulnar nerve in elbow) and Carpal Tunnel (entrapment of median nerve in hand/wrist) Syndromes.

Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel can apparently become pretty serious. You can end up with permanent numbness, tingling, weakness and "clawing" of your fingers. There are times that I feel like my pinkie finger is being pulled down towards my palm. I get flashes of pain down my arm like I hit my funny bone, which is the ulnar nerve being pinched. The ulnar nerve runs to the pinkie and ring fingers and the median nerve runs to the thumb, first and middle fingers.

After that, I was off to see the orthopaedic surgeon. Jeff had strong beliefs about who he'd allow me to see and he insisted on Dr. Gary Millard, a hand and arm specialist who treats the Columbus Bluejackets among others. I met with a resident, Dr. John Buschman, first. He asked some questions and did a quick exam. Then Dr. Millard came in and they talked and he asked a few more questions. I basically confirmed that I'd used wrist splints and elbow braces and tried meds but was still having problems. Much to Jeff's surprise, Dr. Millard suggested surgery. He doesn't see any point in waiting since it's not likely the symptoms will ever disappear on their own or for good.

I wasn't surprised despite Jeff's belief that Dr. Millard would recommend physical therapy before surgery but I was surprised when Dr. Millard said he was not only going to operate on the Cubital and Carpal Tunnels, but he was also going to go ahead and decompress the Guyon Canal as well. That's also the ulnar nerve, but in the side of the wrist. From what I've read, Carpal and Cubital Tunnel surgeries are pretty common but not the Guyon Canal surgery.

So surgery is scheduled for October 5th at 9:00 am. Dr. Millard will move the ulnar nerve out of the Cubital Tunnel and relocate it to under the skin and fatty layer in my arm. That's called a Subcutaneous Ulnar Nerve Transposition. He'll decompress the ulnar nerve in the Guyon Canal and the median nerve in the Carpal Tunnel by cutting the ligaments over the nerve and then close the incisions, allowing the ligament to close with scar tissue. Surgery will be out-patient and only take 1-2 hours. I'll be wrapped from above the elbow all the way to my hand for 2 weeks. Sutures will be removed after 2 weeks and then I'll be in a wrist splint for another 4 weeks.

On average, it takes a nerve about 1 inch per month to heal. So if I'm measure my arm from my elbow to the tips of my fingers, that's about how long until the nerve should be fully healed. And as fun as all that sounds, during the middle of all of this, I began to experience the same symptoms in my left arm as well. I haven't told the doctor yet about that arm since there's nothing they can do until the right arm is healing but I'm nervous that I'll have to have the surgery on that arm as well.

I'll keep everyone posted with how things are going once I'm up from surgery. But that's it in a nut shell for now.