Hello,

I had carpal tunnel surgery 4 weeks ago. My doctor told me that I'd
have 70-80% use of my hand back in 4 weeks. I **guess** I do, but it
actually hurts worse than it did before surgery. The numbness,
tingling, pain, etc., is even worse.

To make matters even worse, I'm a writer -- and I'm on this computer
day in/day out. I tried to type with one finger for a while, then
when it started hurting too much, to leave and rest my hand.

But, my doctor said it's not necessary to do that any more. He said
that my typing won't damage what he's done to try to correct the
problem.

My doctor said that it may take 9-12 MONTHS to see the full benefits
of the surgery. SCREAM. I wondered if because I waited a long time
for the surgery if maybe I'd damaged the nerve. He said that's a
possibility, and my hand may not get any better than it is now. But,
we won't know for a while. BE PATIENT. Geez. He also said that the
longer you wait to have surgery, the longer it sometimes takes to
recover.

Has anyone else had carpal tunnel surgery? I didn't have the scope-
type surgery -- just the standard CT surgery.

What type of recovery did you experience? How long did it take before
the pain, numbness, etc., went away?

Because using my hands are my job, and because I have no other
alterative but to use my hands, this is so frustrating! I'm going to
check into voice recognition software, which may help me to a certain
extent.

Thanks for ANY advice you can give me.

Robin