u/1000meere

...I'm deadlifting above my bodyweight! Climbing, swimming, helping friends move... no more nerve flosses, no more arm brace at night, no more worrying about ergonomics. There's a lot I wish I'd known about recovery.

-My surgeon was basically a salesman. He was like 'you'll wake up and your arm will feel better.' Not really. Maybe because of how long I was injured it's taken a lot of physical therapy (and then my PT transitioned me to light weightlifting, and then normal weightlifting). I wasn't into weightlifting before the surgery. But the atrophy from 10 years of injury required a lot of muscle rebuilding (the less muscle you have the more things get irritated)

-My surgeon did NOT have me immobilized after the surgery. He had me moving my arm pretty much immediately. I still waited a week to drive, even though he didn't specify that. But I'm wondering if lack of immobilization was a key part of not having this whole scarring thing

-I had bilateral symptoms, with an initial injury to the left. After my left ulnar nerve release, surgeon gave me the green light to get the surgery on the right. I'm SO glad I didn't. Despite my primary then diagnosing my right arm with tendonitis, my PT was like 'um your right forearm is just chronically tight' and had me buy a forearm massager (roflex). Cleared up my right arm symptoms over time.

-Recovery also took a lot of self work because I became afraid of a lot of activities and have had to force myself to do them. Part of that was realizing that those minor symptoms sometimes just meant I wasn't used to an activity anymore. I still sometimes forget that it's OK to clap after performances for instance, or to read on my stomach

-Sometimes I still have mild symptoms but I barely notice them because I know they don't *mean* anything. But OK maybe I'm less likely to sleep on my left side still ;)

-I expect to continue recovering even from here. My next step is getting used to the punching motion so that maybe I can get into martial arts for instance. Also, feeling more comfortable with falling so that I can get into things like roller blading

Wishing everyone best of luck out there, happy to answer any questions

A lot of the info I see online is many years out of date. I'm wondering if I'll be meeting other camino travelers on this walk regularly, or if it's pretty solitary by fall? I'm more entranced by the challenge and landscape of the camino di francesco, but am considering choosing Francigena just because it would be fun to hang with people from various countries along the way.

Especially interested in information from the last couple years. Thank you!

If someone switches attorneys partway through their case, will it mean less settlement for the patient (for instance if each attorney contract said 15% then would you lose 30%)? Patient has nonresponsive attorney. Also... how often do other patients' attorneys respond to them? Trying to figure out what a normal amount of contact is. Thanks!