Update on status: 4.5 months after my surgery, cubital tunnel syndrome:
My last physical therapy that lasted about 7 sessions ended about 2 weeks ago.
My intention of getting in my dry suit and going scuba diving and taking underwater photography is slowly making headway.
I only used snorkeling equipment a few days ago, to spend around 45 minutes in a relatively warm river.
For my dry suit undergarments this time of year, I only used the thin caplin wicking top and bottom. It is amazing how much easier it is to get into the dry suit with less lofty material for warmth.
For the Pacific Ocean I would always wear the Polarguard 400 Two Way Stretch lofty jumpsuit.
Since the suit has wrist seals that also accept dry gloves in place of seals, this is what I have been using since a year now.
It still does remain to be seen, if I have enough manual dexterity in my fingers through a dry glove to operate an underwater camera housings buttons. Otherwise, I would put back the wrist seals and use wet suit gloves.
Before the surgery I had done some scuba diving in very cold river water. At that time the temperature of the water in the river seemed colder than the ocean.
At that time, my hands and forehead were so cold, I got the dry gloves and the liners (the inside dry glove undergarment).
The forehead brain freeze pain, if it were to be happening again, would probably be in waters of less than 50 F.
Then I will have to probably get a custom-made hood. Either that or I use some neoprene and glue some extra neoprene onto my existing hood.
For an evaluation of how things went for the snorkeling, I had a period of acclimation to being in the water. Then it was all fine. While in the water I never had any stinging pain in my hand. It has always been that way, anyway though.
It was calming to see the juvenal steel head trout while I was looking for what I had previously seen while on scuba. That is that prior I saw some I-beam steel part from a way long time ago mill.
This snorkeling with no lead weights, had me restricted to only be on the surface. I could still see the bottom around 20 feet deep OK. Just some plant life, though not a dangerous blue green algae, just some other aquatic stuff that lives for a while, it clouds up some areas.
After the snorkeling, where I used my arms for a little extra propulsion doing back stroke, when the wind came up, I later had some delayed pain from that activity.
It was nothing worse than I have from other daily life. After I do some strenuous exercise when I am wearing long sleeve shirt, the elbow get sore at the incision area around the elbow and lets me know it.
Jackets or like the dry suit sleeve, does since the surgery, have my arm irritated if I wear them. My arm does favor sleeveless mostly on the operated side.
So, it was not like that before the operation, but that just how it is, when a surgeon must be able to cut away scar tissue on the ulnar nerve to solve neuropathic hand pain. A year after the surgery I was told it could take for the arm to be better.
Also, in a years’ time, for the neuropathy in the hand to be better. I will be getting along to see about that specifically.
There is issue in my cervical spine for the nerve paths there as well. Just I don’t want to have two operations healing concurrently. And it is always possible in a double crush syndrome, one areas operation might be enough to stop the hand pain alone.
I washed the dry suit and gear to be ready for next time. See attached picture. The 2-liter green plastic bottle with some ace bandage material, seals up the neck seal to keep the inside of the suit dry while I wash it.
The dry suit is a second one, that same model I had to replace when the one I had in use for about 25 years was beyond fixing.
While owning that prior suit, I only washed the inside of the dry suit, or accidentally had the inside of the suit get washed, a total of 3 times.
It takes a long time to dry out the inside of a dry suit, so it is not recommended to wash the inside of a dry suit, unless it stinks. I have the Pete Wader Dryer. I can use it on the dry suit, as air drying alone can have the attached boots never drying without heat.
The undergarments I wash.
Other: The valve job on my non-adjustable valve Briggs 3.5HP, I have put off for some time, due to healing as well.
It is such that wrenching and pulling out valves and grinding the stem tips, to bring back mechanical timing, would be painful as the surgery is still healing.
This is also aside from getting the engine back on the bike fiasco. It is a one-of-a-kind DIY Briggs bike.
Though given the snorkeling being a first after surgery, I am to see about wrenching that bike back to OHV riding trails again.
Windsurfing and using a tight-fitting wetsuit after a year healing could be possible, I suppose. The issue with windsurfing, even using a boom harness that reduces stress on the arms, it could be too much too soon. I’m not tossing my sailing stuff out and look to sailing some more.
MT
PS: the dry suit zipper, I guess I recall as what is the same as in a space suit.
