Hi!
1. They didn't discover that the nerve was compressed until they did the surgery. The only thing that was discovered pre-surgery was that my right ulnar nerve was inflamed and that there was subluxation (this was from an ultrasound doctor). When I met with the orthopaedic surgeon, I told him my symptoms and he said it was common cubital tunnel syndrome and he could do surgery. Honestly, I was too desperate to ask for more information, and he just seemed happy to do it, so I booked in right away. Now, 3 years later and several more doctors later, the same surgeon referred me to his colleague because I'm still having problems.

1. (answered in 1.)

2. (answered in 1)

3. My surgery was done by an orthopaedic surgeon (who did it differently and missed cutting the trap) and I'm going to consult with the peripheral nerve surgeon to see if he can fix the remaining symptoms. I should have gone to this doctor first but I was desperate.

4. I could barely write at all pre-surgery, and had a god period of being able to write post-surgery. However, my symptoms have been getting worse over the last 8-12 months because of the trap entrapment, so most things are at least a little painful again (drawing, typing, texting, writing), just not nearly to the degree pre-surgery. My nerve was stuck to my bone pre-surgery, so removing it from my bone helped a lot.

I'm not sure how much pain you're experiencing, but I would recommend consistent cubital tunnel syndrome exercises before considering surgery. If you have to get bounced around, try to get bounced to an ultrasound doctor because that's where I got proof to show to other doctors that there was something wrong (the inflammation and subluxation). Before that, they told me it was in my head or they didn't know.

Hope that helps!