Where were we?

Oh, yeah!!!
As I said, there were no ill effects from the elbow surgery. Of course, it wasn't exactly totally back to normal either. At least I can open things like pickle jars again [now if I could only type!!!].It has turned out, however, that it wasn't exactly an ulnar nerve decompression that was performed... more like a nerve disentanglement. Evidently, over the years, the nerve had gotten itself mixed up with scar tissue and adhesions which caused it to malfunction. The downside to that is that disentangling the nerve risks severing it, which is not a good thing. Besides, it's my left hand and I don't like to button the top button on my shirts anyway.
How the time arises for the follow-up visit to the neurologist.You know the guy who poked me with the electric needles and then sent me to the "cutter."
So I showed him my scar and demonstrated that massive strength i have in my hands from wielding huge amounts of pizza dough in my younger days. He was suitably impressed, considering that he has numerous degrees from a whole lot of Universities that I have actually heard of. Then he raises dogs which are so well behaved that he must threaten them with the electric needle treatment.
So, then I told him about the MRI and what the neurosurgeon wanted to do. If he hadn't been a well-refined individual and learned a better vocabulary in school, he'd have probably said something like, "Oh, Holy Sh*t!!! Let's not be too hasty." Instead he couched in much more reasonable and politically correct terms. [only a longshoreman would have needed a translation] Of course, he reached into his little bag of trick, booted up his laptop, accessed the database of the local MRI mill and after a rather long download of a big file, was able to see exactly what the other doctor had seen and he almost immediately revise his response, saying that he agreed surgery was the best response.
Before I present any more details, as much fun as they are, I should mention that I have been aware of this condition in my spine for a number of years. There was an issue with it about ten years ago, but it was not considerd serious enough to do more than treat it with anti inflammatory medicines. Except for the fact that the pills were only slightly smaller than a Greyhound Bus, they worked good and I forgot about it when those symptoms (shoulder and arm pain) went away.

Well my attention span grows short and I want to keep everyone on the hook.... so more, later.