Dupuytren's contracture

User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56351
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Mick F »

Hang on, I have a form.

Try and read the handwriting ........

Percutaneous farcicaomes(?
You read it :lol:
IMG_1216.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
simonineaston
Posts: 7993
Joined: 9 May 2007, 1:06pm
Location: ...at a cricket ground

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by simonineaston »

Cool! Happy Days, Mick :-)
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56351
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Mick F »

Just done yesterday's and this morning's dishes.
Mrs Mick F is away in The Gambia as many of you might know, so I'm having to fend for myself.
Latex glove works well to protect the wound. :D
IMG_1217.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56351
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Mick F »

All advice given, but the main thing is to keep the finger stretched and new skin should form.
I would have liked a splint to hold it as stretched as possible, but I'm holding it out when I remember.
Typing with one finger, and my left hand it hooked over the arm of the chair and pulling gently.

One finger typing is fine using sticky keys. Shift and then a letter, gives a capital (for instance) let alone brackets and punctuations: like that! :D
Mick F. Cornwall
Jdsk
Posts: 24481
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Jdsk »

Image

That's percutaneous fasciotomies, left hand.

percutaneous: through the skin (rather than open)
fasciotomies: plural of fasciotomy: cutting of the fascia (rather than removal which would be -ectomy)

Jonathan
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56351
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Mick F »

I was at the hospital on Monday and they checked out my finger and we discussed the full operation. I'll be booked in to have the right pinkie done like my left in the next few weeks.

My left one is very good indeed and just about healed up. Photo to follow.
It was far worse than my right, but now my left is quite ok and useable, I'm in a hurry to get my right done.

As for the full op, the basic story goes, that it'll be done under a local anaesthetic and my whole arm will be numb, and also they'll make me drowsy. I'll be strapped up and with a plaster-cast to hold my finger straight and three weeks later I'll go back to have the dressings changed and a lighter splint put on. My hand will be out of action for about a month. Then it's exercising and stretching of it. Maybe two more months of difficulties.

Then, they'll do my other hand. Another three months of difficulties. :shock:

I'd be stir crazy!!!!!!
I'm an active "hands on" sort of chap, and these operations sound very much over the top to me.

We discussed wether it was worth it, and we discussed amputation either partially or completely. The recuperation issue would be very much quicker and simpler. Meanwhile, get the right pinkie done like my left and make decisions about any of it later.
IMG_1250.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
simonineaston
Posts: 7993
Joined: 9 May 2007, 1:06pm
Location: ...at a cricket ground

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by simonineaston »

It's great to hear of progress! Hope everything continues to go ahead according to plan :-)
I'm an active "hands on" sort of chap
Perhaps you can think of exciting passtimes that only require the thumb and forefinger - like stamp collecting or sewing! And then again perhaps not... :wink:
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Psamathe
Posts: 17616
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Psamathe »

Mick F wrote: 25 May 2022, 10:59am ....
We discussed wether it was worth it, and we discussed amputation either partially or completely. The recuperation issue would be very much quicker and simpler.....
For some years I've been suspecting I'll need to lose my right little finger at some point (not due to Dupuytren's). Sailing injury from over 20 years ago and it's gradually getting increasingly deformed and moving from occasional "discomfort" to pain at times (i.e. worse and more often). Certainly not bad enough yet and maybe I'm being pessimistic and the thought of losing it does not bother me too much. Down how fast it deteriorates compared to how fast the rest of me deteriorates.

Ian
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56351
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Mick F »

Psamathe wrote: 25 May 2022, 7:45pm Down how fast it deteriorates compared to how fast the rest of me deteriorates.
This is the main point I reckon.
Everything is getting more and more difficult physically to do what I used to.
Lived at this property for 25 years. Three acres of woodland and garden. It's hard work these days!

70 later this year, and if I were a betting man, I'd bet that I have only 15 years left. It's a sobering thought, that 15 years ago, it was 2007 which only seems like yesterday.
Mick F. Cornwall
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Psamathe wrote: 5 May 2022, 12:12pm I hope I'm not duplicating a treatment previously posted by others (I had a scan back but might have missed it) so anyway:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/may/05/dupuytrens-disease-hand-finger-bending-treatment-clinical-trial-oxford-university wrote:Treatment for finger-bending disease may be ‘gamechanger’
Researchers have hailed a breakthrough in the treatment of a common, incurable disease that causes hand deformities by bending the fingers firmly into the palm.

A clinical trial at Oxford University found that a drug used for rheumatoid arthritis appeared to drive Dupuytren’s disease into reverse when used early on, a result described as a potential “gamechanger” for patients.

“We are very keen to pursue this,” said Prof Jagdeep Nanchahal, a surgeon scientist who led the trial at Oxford’s Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. “This is a very safe drug and it’s important patients can access a treatment if it’s likely to be effective.”
...
Ian
Cool - My grandfather had severe contracture (three fingers curled right the way in), my father has a slightly later onset and so far less severe contracture. But I am already on Adalimumab for other reasons...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
CathM
Posts: 77
Joined: 1 Nov 2019, 5:20pm
Location: Cumbria

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by CathM »

Thanks for posting the photos Mick; I've shown them to my husband, whose finger has remained stuck at 90 degrees, and who hopes it will stay that way! I was trying to be optimistic all those months ago when I said that the contracture doesn't always get worse, and I'm sorry that in your case it obviously did, and quickly. I do hope that your treatment brings improvement.

My Mum told me once that her father, who died in the 1940s, long before I was born, had had a bent pinkie. She, and presumably he, ascribed this to his having held a clip-board every day during his working life (he was a surveyor). It was only when my husband developed Dupuytren's contracture and we found out what it was, that it dawned on me that that must have been my granddad's problem too!

I'm glad you're back on the forum too - I was missing the photos of Sailor!

Cath.
Psamathe
Posts: 17616
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Psamathe »

Had my lump (not yet causing and finger bending) checked out by GP last week (mainly because a long term lump is not something I rely on Dr Google 100%). GP said it was and scheduled a blood test because apparently it can be linked to liver issues (and alcohol consumption). Blood test does not bother me but Google seems to come-up with lots of articles saying similar.

Ian
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56351
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Mick F »

Cath, thank you for your post.
My left pinkie has healed quite well, and I can use it. Driving, for instance, I can hold the steering wheel properly, and even pull the handbrake up with the whole hand. When eating, I can put the fork down without having to extract it.

Here's a couple of Sailor photos.
One when he was little, and the other only a week or so ago. :D
IMG_0213.jpg
IMG_0206.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
CathM
Posts: 77
Joined: 1 Nov 2019, 5:20pm
Location: Cumbria

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by CathM »

He's a handsome dog, and his paws are all perfectly straight!
User avatar
Mick F
Spambuster
Posts: 56351
Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Dupuytren's contracture

Post by Mick F »

:lol: :lol:
Mick F. Cornwall
Post Reply