According to Wikipedia, I have cubital tunnel syndrome, although the orthopedist I saw this morning didn't describe it as such.

I've had a pain in my left elbow for quite some time now; probably over a year and a half (probably closer to 2 years) that although not severe, has become quite annoying to me.  I finally decided to see my family doctor about this about two weeks ago and they suggested I see an orthopedist about it and setup an appointment for me.  They said it would probably take some physical therapy or a cortisone shot - that didn't seem to bad to me.

My appointment this morning was pretty quick; I got an x-ray of my elbow and saw the doctor for probably less that five minutes.  He asked me if I had any numbness in my hand, and I realized that I did.  He immediately said we should setup an appointment for surgury to move the nerve. Woah!

Tiffany and I are expecting another baby sometime around the end of this month, so I elected to wait a bit to schedule the appointment to see how Tiff's recovery goes, but after reading some articles about this syndrome it doesn't seem like something I want to let go too long as it can lead to muscle wasting in the hand.  I'll probably set it up for November or December.

Your lesson for the day: don't let those minorly annoying but nagging pains go on for too long.  This probably could have been treated with ibruprofin, physical therapy, and/or cortisone shot if it was treated early, but the prolonged wear on the nerve pretty much makes surgury the only option for fixing this before it gets worse.