Prior to my surgery, I attempted to do research on my condition – Cubital Tunnel Syndrome so that I could be well informed on what to expect and to learn about the long-term prognosis after surgery. I was shocked to find there are many sites and message boards on Carpal Tunnel, but very few regarding Cubital Tunnel.

I receive several hits per month on “ulnar” or “cubital tunnel” so I figured I would provide an update to my fellow Internet friends who may be suffering from Cubital Tunnel and are considering surgery.

I must say, that making the decision to undergo the knife was difficult for me. I enjoy my mobility, but the pain and numbness were interfering with the quality of my life. I am not a vain person, but I do lift weights to keep my tricep area firm and prevent that unsightly fat jiggle when waving one or both arms.

Imagine my horror at my pre-op visit when my surgeon wielded a purple magic marker and proceeded to draw an eight inch line down the back of my arm! He said, “There…that ought to cover it. What do you think?” What did I think? I thought he was some bloodthirsty flesh mutilator!

As you will see from my before picture below, I had quite the FrankenArm for a few months. However, it is true…time does fade and heal all wounds.

Two days after my surgery, I found that my numbness and “funny bone” pain were gone. Now my surgeon did report that I was very lucky, as it can take some patients over a year for the nerve to heal. I never needed physical therapy, instead I did the arm exercises my doctor prescribed.

It took roughly six months for all the tenderness at the incision and in my tricep to go away. Around that same time, I found that my grip strength was almost normal and I could tolerate lifting more than 10lbs. Now at one year post-op, I am at 100%

I have both Cubital and Carpal on the right, and if it continues to get worse, I will have surgery next year after the baby is born. I plan on going to the same surgeon because of the brilliant job he did on putting me back together, but more importantly, I want my scars to match!

Here is what my arm looked like one day post-op:

And here it is one year later:

I certainly hope that if you are reading this you won’t have to undergo this type of ulnar surgery, but if you do, please have faith.

This active mom of many came through it for the better!

Looking for more information on Ulnar Transposition Surgery or Cubital Tunnel?

Please feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below or via my Contact page. I will try to answer as best I can

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I am back with a big scar and a cast on! The surgery was Thursday at 8 a.m. The actual surgery took over two hours. While in pre-op, the anesthesiologist gave me a nerve block to assist with post-op pain relief.

My husband had me home by noon, and my pain level was never above a 4 that day. For those of you who are blessed to have never had surgery or been to a hospital, I am referring to the method health care practitioners use to determine pain severity. Here is one: Pain Scale

My favorite is the Wong-Baker pain scale for Pediatric patients. We first saw this in the local ER when our daughter needed stitches.

FACES From Hockenberry MJ, Wilson D, Winkelstein ML: Wong’s Essentials of Pediatric Nursing, ed. 7, St. Louis, 2005, p. 1259.

So you see….a 4 on this scale is not so bad. I was still able to crack stupid jokes with the kids.

Unfortunately, I did experience extreme nausea and vomiting from the anesthesia. Thankfully, compazine and time helped that side effect go away.

I saw the doctor yesterday morning, and he took off my cast. I am shocked that the cast only stayed put for one day. The doctor said it was because he was putting me to work with arm exercises. JOY! Seriously, this is good because if I follow them as directed and recover well, I will not have to go to physical therapy.

Surprisingly, I am feeling good for having an 8-inch incision on the back of my arm. My surgeon did not use staples or stitches on the outside. Instead, he does tiny stitches on the inside so that the two flaps of skin meet and the scar that is left behind is very thin.

I am able to open and close my fingers, and move my arm slightly. The Vicodin is managing my pain very well. The nerve block finally wore of this morning, and for the first time in 2 years, I do not feel ANY numbness in my pinky or ring fingers. That alone makes all the pain worth it! With my husband’s help, I was able to take a shower this morning. We took off the ace bandage and put my arm into a plastic bag to help keep it dry.

Oh, I installed voice-recognition software last week so I do not have to type much. The initial training of the software was a pain, but it works rather well. Ok….off to rest.

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I’m ready. Please pray for me.

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Surgery is the last resort. I’ve tried many conservative methods of therapy (ibuprofen therapy, custom splints to wear, behavior modification – not resting on elbows, etc.), but nothing helped relieve the pain in my elbows or the numbness and tingling in my hands. I would also experience “Funny bone” pain from picking up my son. Ok, that’s just not right. I have a problem with this.

First of all there is nothing “funny” about feeling a jolt of pain surging down your arm causing sparks in the pinky and ring fingers. The pain doesn’t come from a bone at all, but rather when the ulnar nerve gets bumped against the humerus (the bone that goes from your elbow to your shoulder). Some fool thought that this was all humorous (or is it humerus?) and birthed the name “funny bone”.

Second, NO ONE should ever feel this pain when doing NORMAL activities. So surgery here I come.

I am creating a new category named Ulnar Transposition Surgery to keep track of my progress.

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