Well it's been 5 weeks since my surgery, and I have noticed that since the decompression, my ulnar nerve is now floating above the elbow now.

Is this supposed to do that? I've hit that sucker a handful of times now, and each time my fingers tingle for a couple of days. Not sure if I'm liking this procedure much.

Hey fasttraxx,

Be very very careful about hitting that elbow. When they do the decompression the nerve is pretty much unprotected. It only took one direct hit to my surgical site (11 weeks after decompression) to undo all the benfits from the decompression and damage the nerve more. Sooooo be careful. Especially only being 5 weeks out. I'm 4 weeks out from sub-muscular transposition and the thought of bumping it totally gives me the willies.

Best of luck and be careful with that elbow. The transposistion for me was way harder to recover from.

Chris

I was thinking the same thing.

Why would they decompress the nerve, if it leaves it unprotected? This doesn't make much sense to me.
Wouldn't it be smarter to transpose the nerve under the muscle tissue the first time? I'm no Doctor, but I did sleep in a holiday Inn express last night.

Saw the Doc for a check up after noticing that the nerve now flips over the small bone in my elbow. He says he had only seen this one other time before (I find hard to believe) and can't figure out why it came up and over that bone. Anyhow, as I had predicted, he will now do the sub muscular transposition surgery.
My questions are:
1 - How painful is this surgery compared to last?
2 - How long am I expected to be under for surgery?
3 - How long is recovery time?
4 - Will I be casted or splinted?

I guess I can review some other post to find out some of this info, but any additional would help.

Thanks, Bummed out.

fasttraxx wrote:

My questions are:
1 - How painful is this surgery compared to last?
2 - How long am I expected to be under for surgery?
3 - How long is recovery time?
4 - Will I be casted or splinted?

I guess I can review some other post to find out some of this info, but any additional would help.

Thanks, Bummed out.

Howdy Fasttraxx,

Sorry to hear you have to have another surgery, but glad to see that they DID figure out what all is going on. I think I can help you on a few of these.

1. I haven't had the decompression, but the subcutaneous transposition. I didn't find the pain to be all that bad really. I was given Percocet for the pain, and really I don't think I used half of the script, and even had a refill that I never used!

2. Because they wanted to test my arm below my elbow after the transposition, I was put under verses a block. They might use a block on your arm, and then it would be "asleep" for like 24 hours. The surgery is under 2 hours. Mine was 1:15 and that was the elbow and the release in my hand/wrist - Guyon's!

3. Mine was outpatient. My hubby took me home once they saw I could take solids, had pain under control (wasn't that bad as I said), and my bladder/bowel functions were normal. Recovery and back to work will be dependent on what kind of work you do, and too how fast you heal. Some are good in 2 weeks, others (like myself - law enforcement) 6 weeks.

4. Most times the put you in a half cast, half ace wrap. At around 10-15 days they take you out of it. I now have a rubber 'cover' for my arm for showers and such, but before I had that, I wrapped my cast snuggly in sarahn wrap and it stayed dry during my shower!

Hope this helps...again, sorry you have to go through this. I *might* have to have a revision with a submuscular myself. Supportive *hug*

Brenda