I'm now 4 months post surgery and have had 2 EMGs since surgery. There is evidence now of some return to motor function from EMG though nothing on sensation. Apparently if you damage the myelin sheath around the nerve, this controls feeling, whilst the inner axon branches control movement and muscle innervation (?)

From a physical perspective, my left hand is still next to useless, not having grip to speak of, turning strength or finger abduction. Perversely, and contra to the previous paragraph I am experiencing a mild return of feeling.

My rightly confused consultant will run further EMG tests in June. I have been told to expect further surgery in the form of tendon transfer to improve key pinch and abduction, though I can't say I'm overly keen on this option right now.

On the physio side I have been advised by my several professionals now to exercise BOTH hands. There is evidence to suggest that the exercising of the good hand still stimulates nerve reinnervation in the affected hand (?). I've also purchased a "Handmaster Plus" which is great for squeezing but with no abduction function is still (for me) limited. Reminds me of the type of exercises I used to perform for my left hand before surgery (I was a grade 8 guitarist!)

I can drive a car with manual shift - here in the UK the gear box is on the floor and not attached to the steering wheel; so I dont really the use the FCU, even if I wanted too!

I hope Cindy you are experiencing a good return of form and function; I was advised that at 42 I shouldn't be expecting to heal as well now I'm "older". Amusing given that me and my consultant are exactly the same age

Hi Martyn,

It was great to see a post from you, I was wondering how you were doing. I hope you do get the feeling and use back completely - that would be outstanding.

Well as you know I'm also 4months post op AND I'm in my early 40's. My dr is much younger than me and he didn't say anything about me being too old to recovery quickly. Maybe he thought I would hit him if he said that Just joking, I've never heard of 40's being a factor in recovery. I didn’t know you were in the UK. I’ve heard about your cars with the floor shifter – very nifty!

My surgery was on my right elbow, I did have feeling in the fingers after surgery, but lost I some feeling again shortly afterwards. I'm not too concerned about sensation because my hand muscles work again. Before the surgery I had little to no muscle strength which is now all back

I have numbness in all my fingers on the right side, nerve pain in the wrist and palm into the base of the thumb. I have pain on the outside elbow which is most likely radial tunnel syndrome. After surgery I developed shoulder pain which is now also into the shoulder blade and neck. I can reproduce the tingle by lifting my arm up over my head. But my right elbow is great!

I'm bilat CUTs and the left elbow is now screaming angry at me. I was hoping to have the surgery scheduled for the left arm as that is what the dr mentioned previously. I went back to my dr for a follow-up on the right arm thinking we would talk about surgery dates for the left. Instead he said he thinks there might be something 'wrong with me' as I now have too many nerve compression sites for a 'normal' person.

I was pretty much stunned and taken back as I feel 'normal' apart from all of my arm pain and weakness. I've also developed muscle spasms in the hand and outside elbow joints. I'm not sure if this is nerve related or not?

Cindy

Floor shifters; LOL.

Too many nerve compressions for a normal person, what does that mean; that must have been shocking.

I also get cramp like pains in my left hand, but you get used to them at the end of thee day. I've noticed waking at night with pins and needles in the right hand occassionally; you kinda know where that's going to end up.

Still got ulnar claw despite a vicious splint strap for bed time wearing; very fetching I must say. Still got no adduction movement in fingers or no no return of muscle mass or first interosseus. Ho hum.

Get back to your doc and give him a hard time. Ask him to define a normal person...

martyn wrote:
[quote]Floor shifters; LOL.

I also get cramp like pains in my left hand, but you get used to them at the end of thee day. I've noticed waking at night with pins and needles in the right hand occassionally; you kinda know where that's going to end up.

Still got ulnar claw despite a vicious splint strap for bed time wearing; very fetching I must say. Still got no adduction movement in fingers or no no return of muscle mass or first interosseus. Ho hum.

Are you still looking at the tendon transfer?

I'm back to the consultant on 25 May; I suspect the outcome will be further EMG and NVC, then return to consultant circa 4/52 later and see what is what. I don't really care now what the results are, you *know* yourself after a while whetheer you have axonal damage still or not. No-one decides they can't hold a fork at the dinner table properly if they can't; I guess you appreciate this and know what I mean.

More emg and Nvc tests. Turns out I also have damage to my radial nerve too, making my thumb next to useless. Consultant is skipping tendon transfer; I'm being referred to the uk's secialist peripheral nerve centre in London, with a view to having the radial and ulnar nerve transected and repaired.