Tell me about your elbow surgery

February 15, 2011 9:02 PM

Tell me about your experiences with heterotopic ossification excision, ulnar nerve transposition, or, best of all, both.

Followup to the question about my numb finger: After getting a CT scan and an EMG (yow!) I now have a diagnosis of severe ulnar neuropathy; the HO from the original elbow injury is entrapping the ulnar nerve at the elbow. They're going to open up the elbow, get rid of some of the extra bone, and put the nerve in a better place. Does anyone here have any experience of this kind of surgery? What should I be expecting from the procedure, and what's the recovery like? Any questions I should be asking the surgeon before going ahead with this?

posted by escabeche to Health & Fitness (1 answer total)

I had my ulnar nerve moved as part of carpal tunnel surgery. My carpal tunnel was quite advanced and affected my pinky and ring finger - thus the ulnar nerve surgery alongside the usual surgery to free up the median nerve at the wrist.

It's 6 years later. My carpal tunnel symptoms are gone. It's a little odd to have my "funny bone" moved over a bit, and I have a scar on the underside of my elbow, but I haven't had any problems related to either surgery.

After the surgery I had a huge and very heavy cast that went from my hand up to my armpit. I believe I had it for about two weeks before it was replaced with a smaller, lighter one. Having that huge cast was physically so exhausting. I needed help doing my hair and getting dressed, and it was tough to find things that fit over it. And I almost fainted when they removed the cast because it was so scary to see my arm so limp. The feeling lasted only about a minute, but I wish someone had told me to expect to be weirded out.

I'd suggest you find out if you're getting the same heavy thing and schedule your surgery for a time when there isn't ice on the streets and you won't want to wear many layers of clothing.
posted by paindemie at 5:55 AM on February 16, 2011