Cubital Tunnel Release Surgery Posted by missfroggirl - 2010/04/23 22:25 Hi, I am so glad to have found this place. I was in a crazy small car wreck in November and suffered from whiplash. A few weeks later I woke up with my entire left arm "asleep". It has yet to wake up. I haven't been able to feel my pinky or ring finger at all, and now I am suffering from debilitating cramping in my hand and fingers and severe muscle spasms in my elbow. It hurts so bad I want to cry. After doctors and xrays, EMGs, ans MRIs I went in for the surgery consult this afternoon. I am getting the Cubital Tunnel Release surgery next Friday, April 30th. They are actually putting me under general anesthesia for fear that a nerve blocker would cause more problems. I will be back at work on the following Monday. Has anyone had any experience with Cubital Tunnel Release? It is it like Decompression? The Surgeon said it will heal like a "large cut" and I should be able to type for work on that Monday with no issues, just don't go crazy. I already know that not having an arm after surgery is going to suck, so my mom is going to come stay with me for that weekend to help out. I actually wonder if she knows she is going to help wash my hair, cut my food, and clasp my bra? Sucks, but it is better than living with this pain and annoyance. Posted by gueoasis - 2010/04/24 22:48 Hi missfroggirl, Welcome to the site. Well from the recovery time you're describing, I'd guess it is a decompression. But from the symptoms you're describing, it sounds more involved than a decomprssion. Did the doctors rule out neck problems? Were the MRI's of your neck? You say your whole arms is asleep. Does that include other fingers besides your ring and small finger? When I had my left decompression surgery I was in a bulky dressing with an elbow splint for about a week, so typing was difficult. But every surgeon duoes things differently. Well whichever way it goes, good luck on Friday. Chris Posted by missfroggirl - 2010/04/25 01:05 Chris, 1 / 5
The numbness starts above my elbow and goes down into my pinky, ring finger, and half my middle finger. If I grab something my hands cramps and my fingers get stuck in agonizing positions. The surgeon is pretty confident that I will heal quickly from the surgery. he says the only dressing will be gauze and an ace bandage. As far as my neck goes, they did x-rays of it and it came back clean. The MRI was of my neck and underarm, looking to see if the nerve was damaged higher up than my elbow. It is not. But my doctors and the surgeon must think this is a pretty serious case as they are treating me so aggressively. I went to my GP - again - at the beginning of April, she sent me to the spine/nerve doctor within a week, and he sent me to the surgeon within a few weeks. And now the surgeon booked me for one week after I saw him. Brandy Posted by gueoasis - 2010/04/25 03:07 Hey Brandy, At the time I had my left decompression, I had numbness/tingling in my small, ring & 1/2 of the middle finger as well. EMG was normal and we tried conservative treatment for about 6 months first. We decided to go ahead and do the surgery because the numbness (mainly in my middle finger) was affecting my ability to do my job. I was actually starting to develop slight clawing in my little finger in the last 2 weeks before my decompression. I was pretty happy with my decompression. By about 11 weeks post-op, the clawing was improved, and I felt like I had regained 80-90% of the function back in my hand. I had my 3 month post-op checkup, told the doc thanks and figured I'd never have to see him again and 2 days later I backed my elbow into the edge of the car door and knew I had undone everything that he'd just fixed. It took me two weeks to call his office and tell him what i'd done. I ended up having a sub-musc trans about 3 months later. I don't know if it was because I had the two surgeries so close together that the transposition was much harder to bounce back from (i had a few complications post-op). Anyhow the point of my rambling is this: if your surgeon thinks a decompression is all you need, good for you. I know that they can give you relief and restore function. My doc did tell me up front that if he felt the decompression wouldn't fix me, he would do a sub-q tranposition. Again, good luck to you on Friday! Posted by KBT0416-2010/04/26 22:11 Wow, typing after 3 days? That sounds extreme. I had a SubQ transposition and my elbow was immobilized for 15 days. Some people have it splinted for less time though and maybe a decompression is even less. It's just that there was no way I was going to be typing that soon. Good luck with surgery! 2 / 5
Really, the whole thing will be over before you know it! Posted by missfroggirl - 2010/04/26 22:36 Thank you, I sure hope so! the surgeon said that I won't be able to do things like ctrl-c/ctrl-v or anything crazy, but simple hunt and peck with the left hand should be fine. I won't be able to use my arm for a short while, I am sure. but I am determined to not let this slow me down - I don't let anything slow me down, so I will be at work on Monday unless I die on the table or get an infection or something. What about driving? Did anyone have trouble driving? I have an automatic, but use my left arm to steer - heck, I use my left arm for everything but writing. Posted by gueoasis - 2010/04/26 22:48 Brandy, Driving...hmmm. Well it can be done, but it's probably not the safest thing in the world to do. When I had my left transposition, I had to take my son to the surgeon emergently because his incision from his appendectomy opened up the day after my surgery. I didn't take any pain meds and of course I paid for it later. When I had my right trans on Tues., I went back to work on the following Monday and had to drive myself. If there had been anyway around driving, I probably would not have done it. Posted by missfroggirl - 2010/04/26 23:06 I was worried about that. Luckily I only live.8 miles from work and can easily walk, as long as the weather holds up. I guess I should put a few co-workers on speed dial so they could pick me up. Anything else tricky I should know about? Anything you didn't plan for that you wished you had? Posted by KBT0416-2010/04/27 00:46 3 / 5
Stay on top of your pain meds for the first couple of days. That was one of the best pieces of advice I took and I'm glad I stuck with it. It's not fun to have to wait for the meds to kick in! After a couple of days, I was able to get on to just plain old tylenol. Posted by missfroggirl - 2010/05/21 00:03 Hi guys, It has been almost 3 weeks since my surgery and I am quite depressed with the turn out. Yes, I could type as soon as I got home from the hospital. I had immediately regained the feeling in my middle finger and ring finger. I couldn't lift anything or even barley move my arm the first week, but that was expected. My Mom and friends were godsends. They cooked, they cleaned, they made sure my hair was tied back for work. One friend even scrubbed my hair and shaved my underarm for me (she is a keeper!) I got the stitches out last Monday, 10 days after surgery. It has all gone downhill since then. So much so I started a journal detailing it. So after the stitches were removed they put on butterfly tape. Turns out I have developed a "sensitivity" to adhesive and latex :{ I now have scars to prove it. I removed the butterfly tape Wednesday morning. I was tired of it. It had been well over the 5 to 7 days they told me it would stay on. So, the Tuesday after I got the stitches removed my ring finger went numb, and I was in more pain than I had been within the first week after surgery. My pinky is now so numb and pins and needles it HURTS. Even using it to type "a" hurts, and causes it to cramp. The ring finger is following closely behind. I expected the site of the incision to be painful. But three weeks later and it is still a dull achy throb with intense sharp pangs. Of course, my Mom tells me _after_ the surgery that her and everyone in her family is allergic to internal stitches. I don't think that after 3 weeks this would be an issue, but I don't know. I know it hurts, and I know that my hand and pinky and ring fingers are cramping at the slightest tasks. I don't think the surgery went as planned. I don't think it worked. And my whole elbow is in so much pain. I don't know if it is because of the surgery, the latex, the adhesive, a gross combination of it all, or if it is getting used to getting used again. I wrap it at night in a hand towel and secure it with an ace bandage just to keep it straight. So I read up on post op here and at other places. I am not really getting any answers except for "patience". I don't have any patience. So do I call the surgeon in the morning and demand to be seen and heard? Or do I wait until my scheduled follow up June 4th. Please give me some insight. I would greatly appreciate it. 4 / 5
Sorry about the cross post. ~Brandy 5 / 5