Quote Originally Posted by nscrbug View Post
Just curious...does your husband ride? How long ago did he have his endoscopic surgery and how are his hands doing now? I understand that you said he does have permanent damage, but aside from that...is he happy with the outcome of the surgery?

I am checking into a few other Chicago-area hand surgeons that specialize in endoscopic carpel tunnel release. Are there any downsides to going with the endoscopic route, that you are aware of?

Linda
My husband had very serious nerve damage, to the extent that his hands lost a fair amount of muscle. He rides but does not ride a lot. He cannot use drop bars and has to use a very upright position. However, he is very satisfied. The doc was very upfront about the fact that he had permanent damage that he would not recover from but that they could stop further damage. The damage has stopped and in fact he has less nerve pain. His recovery from the serious nerve pain took almost a year. He is a special case though, type 1 diabetes for 50 years which is not only a risk factor for carpal tunnel syndrome but increased the likelihood of permanent nerve damage due to neuropathy.

I do know that there are generally less risks with the endoscopic procedure as compared with the open procedure. However, when looking for a surgeon we learned that endoscopic hand surgery is highly specialized and it is important to get someone with experience. That is why we ended up going to Minneapolis for the surgery.

I just wish he would have had the surgery sooner. He was stubborn and waited too long.