Arm Surgery - July 11, 2005

As most of you know, I had surgery done on my right elbow for a severe case of lateral epicondylitis, better known as "tennis elbow".  The doctor reattached my arm tendons by drilling a hole in my elbow bone and placing a metal strip and screws to hold it in place.  Prior to surgery, my right arm & hand had a lot of pain.  In fact, it was so weak that I could barely stand to hold an ink pen to write.  The doc said the injury stemmed from a bone chip in my arm that basically sawed back in forth in my elbow slicing the tendon off.  Likely the bone chip originated when I had my motorcycle crash in 2001.  Anyway, here are some really cool pics that I coerced the anesthesiologist into taking during the procedure.  They are pretty graphic but it's neat to see what the doc did.

I had to forego lifting any weights at the gym for a while and do some physical therapy, but my arm has recovered pretty well.  I still have to watch what I do so that I don't re-injure it though.  Basically I try to avoid things like throwing balls (which hurt my back anyway) and  be cautious of how I pick up Megan but for the most part I have normal use of my arm again.