February 2nd of 2016 came quickly and I was ready to get the surgery over with.  I was a bit nervous about the procedure as this was my first real surgery.  I really did not know what was going to happen when I woke up and how difficult recovery was going to be.

The doctor had explained to me what was going to happen.  He was going to do an endoscopy procedure in the wrist first to look at the damage, as the MRI results did not really show everything that he wanted to know before beginning the actual surgery.  The worst case scenario was that would have to replace the sheath that cover and holds the ECU tendon in place, and at the same time would need to essentially deepen the groove in the Ulna bone that the ECU tendon itself sits in.  This would allow the tendon to become a little more secure against the bone as well.  

They got me ready for the surgery, the anesthesiologist came in and got me set with the IV.  The last thing that I remember is being wheeled into the surgical room and being put on the surgery table.  The next thing I realize is that I am waking up.  

I regained consciousness in the recovery room.  It was a bit strange as I was expecting to feel very groggy and pretty weird but I woke up surprising clear.  Those drugs were a bit disappointing.   The nurse came over and asked me how I was doing and I said I was fine, except for the GIANT cast on my left arm.  I was a bit shocked at the size of it.  I was expecting something that ended before the elbow, but it was well past the elbow and was very thick and heavy(twss).  It turned out that the thickness of the cast was for allowing some swelling and the length was to eliminate any forearm rotation. 

The doctor explained that he did have to fix the TFCC and the ECU was actually not quite as bad as he feared.  It did have a bit of a tear in the actual ECU tendon itself, which was something the MRI did not pick up.  He cut the torn portion out.  The subsheath that holds the ECU tendon in place was not torn as originally thought, but it was stretched out so he just had to tighten that back down.  He also decided that he did not need to deepen the groove in the Ulna bone as he saw that the biggest problem was just all the damaged and irritated scar tissue in that area.  Other than the 20lb weight attached to my left arm I was happy that everything seemed to go very well.