Tag Archives: surgery

Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Post-Surgery Update – from Dan

Hey everyone, Lizz here! I had surgery on my elbow yesterday (March 27th), and knew I would likely be incapacitated for a while. However, I know a bunch of you wanted to know what was going on as soon as possible – especially since we weren’t sure which surgery I would receive. To easily update everyone, I am having Dan write this post (I’m writing this blurb in advance)! I will write my own update as soon as I am able. There may be a few non-updates that come out in the meantime, as I have a few drafts that Dan just has to hit “publish” on. Be sure to keep an eye on my Instagram, as I’m more likely to be able to update that before I can update here.

Without further ado, here’s Dan’s update:

Post-Surgery Update – Dan’s Perspective

As Lizz indicated in her intro, yesterday was her surgery day. Since her arm pain began, over two years ago, it’s been quite a journey trying to figure out the cause. There was definitely a little tension built up from having to deal with that and the looming surgery so I’m happy it’s finally done. Here’s how it went.

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My Upcoming Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Surgery

chronic illness warrior strong arm (1) signed

For the past two years, I have had rather severe nerve pain in my right arm. I haven’t talked about it a whole lot because we had no idea why it was happening or what we could do about it, so I just tried my best to keep going despite it. The past six months, however, the pain has gotten to a point where I just cannot ignore it any longer.

I am right hand dominate, so not using my right arm just isn’t an option for me. These past six months, I have had to give up writing anything by hand past a few sentences, change how I use my phone, modify my typing, and change a lot of my habits with how I move around during the day.

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October Update: Post-op, Chronics, Life

I had my post-op on October 6th, so a while ago now. Oh wow, time flies. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to update those of you that have been reading all of the surgery updates, school has been extremely time consuming (more on that later).

Nervous

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Short Life Update… because, Insomnia

Mom is leaving to head back to CA tomorrow… actually, today… in, like, 5 1/2 hours. And I’m not sleeping. Oops. I told her I’d make her some maps. So what do I do? Decide I can’t stand the new way that Google prints maps anymore, so I decide to make my own. Now, they turned out really well. But I’m dumb, “Yes, I feel ill… so let’s spend three plus hours making maps from screen shots and typed directions.” Oh well, she shouldn’t get lost at least :-/ Though I suppose their could be random construction detours that weren’t marked… you never know on road trips.

Overwhelmed

Brain ‘splode!

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Don’t Worry, I’m Still Alive

I just haven’t been feeling up to doing this (blogging). Which I know means I should, but I just don’t want to. I’m three weeks post-op today! So I figured I’d mark the occasion with a small post filling you in on the last week.

My thoughts have been in a kind of dark funk lately… not things I want to write about though, which is part of why there haven’t been any posts. When my depression freaks out, it kind of takes over, and then I have a hard time doing anything at all.

Temper Tantrum

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Crazy Life… But, Gotta Love It! Right?

Life has been crazy.

  • I’m still recovering and it’s taking a LOT of energy. Though, I’m making major progress on my ear pain and have been able to reduce the pain killers.
  • School. School = homework. Right now: homework = reading multiple chapters. ‘Nuff said.
  • Fibromyalgia is a … unwelcome guest. I was doing so well, too. Oh well, I knew getting my hopes up that this surgery wouldn’t trigger a flare was a bad idea.
  • POTS is also unwelcome, but doesn’t care that I don’t want it around. And my insomnia is flaring up too. Overall, not much fun on the Chronic side of things, and too many unwanted guests hanging around.

So much going on, so many spoons that I want to spend, so many spoons that I don’t have. I also don’t tend to post much on weekends because Dan is home. I adore Dan, and I love spending as much time with him as I possibly can while he’s home. Monday was Labor Day this time, so he was also home; and now he’s on a business trip, so I definitely was not going to be on my computer. I didn’t even turn my computer on Sunday or Monday!

Post-Surgery Update, My Version

Warning: Post contains some images of the surgery site, which are kind of graphic looking.

First off, I’ll start by letting you know that the doctor says everything is fine, no complications 🙂 This is good, and I’ll give more details below. I just didn’t want any of you to be anxious while reading!

Lizz sleeping

Just a reminder of how the whole post-surgery recovery stuff started.

I’m going to start at the moment I wake up. I really hate waking up from anesthesia, it’s not like you’re going from dreaming to waking, but a weird and disjointed confusion. You only remember up until the anesthesia/amnesiacs take effect (provided they are administered properly). This time, I was given the amnesiac in the pre-op area. Continue reading →

Post-Op Physical Therapy

I had physical therapy/Pilates today (remember, they’re the same thing right now). It’s been exactly one week since my surgery, and I haven’t been doing well with the pain lately. However, Joleen was pleasantly surprised at how well I did today. Apparently I was way better than she expected, so that’s nice. I feel like I’ve been sliding so far back… but I guess I haven’t been. It’s nice to know I’m not going to completely fall apart by the end of the three weeks. She gave Dan some things he can help me with (and he can show my mom since he has a business trip next week), and then she told me how to do some stuff that is safe with my restrictions, as well as modified some of the exercises I’m already doing. I do feel better, just completely wiped out. I feel like I need to start my fatigue condition all over again (slowly build my energy levels and activity tolerance). Oh well. Things happen. Just gotta keep going.

More posts from the Great Ear Saga: The Great Ear Saga of 2015, Bawling Bean, Stay on the Drops, Cutting in Time for School, The PreOp Highlights, Class, Surgery, Life, Anxiety, Dan’s Post-Surgery Update, Quick Ear Update, My Post-Surgery Update, Pain Killers, Exhaustion, Life, October: PostOp and Life

Quick Ear Update

I’m currently waiting for a call back from Dr K (the ear surgeon), and I’d like to do a better follow-up after that, if I feel up to it. The reason I’m waiting for a call is because yesterday I was in pain that was only about half a number away from my max. Today, the pain is a tiny bit better, but still very high. I’m hoping this is just because of the fibro… I really don’t want it to be a complication of any sort… I’ll try to write a better post-op report once I’ve heard back!

More posts from the Great Ear Saga: The Great Ear Saga of 2015, Bawling Bean, Stay on the Drops, Cutting in Time for School, The PreOp Highlights, Class, Surgery, Life, Anxiety, Dan’s Post-Surgery Update, PostOp Physical Therapy, My Post-Surgery Update, Pain Killers, Exhaustion, Life, October: PostOp and Life

Post-Surgery Update: Dan’s Perspective

So, I wanted this post to be entirely written from Dan’s perspective, but he isn’t comfortable with doing that. He wanted me to do it Mad-Libs style for him… but I’m not comfortable doing that. What am I going to do instead? Well, I’m going to do it survey style. By writing out questions that he can answer on his own, he has the freedom to elaborate as much as he wants to, or doesn’t want to. The questions are going to be in third person, which can be kind of odd to read, but should feel more natural after the first few.

Lizz and Dan pre-surgery

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