Vikings Hand or Dupuytren's Contracture
Husband suffers from a condition with his right hand called : Dupuytren's Contracture. This is also called 'Viking's Hand'. In his case, the baby finger of his right hand is bent permanently towards his palm. It has been like this for at least 5 years.
As lovely as our Canadian health system is, I have learned that doctors are just people and some are good, some are great and some are crap.
Our family physician we had when we first moved to Hamilton was crap. Sad but true. [Lost my cancer-confirming ultrasound for example] When husband went to him when his finger began to contract, Dr. M told him there was nothing that could be done until the finger was completely contracted, like it is now. So Husband waited.
When the finger had contracted as far it could get, Husband went to our new doctor, who I consider a good doctor. He said husband should have seen a surgeon as soon as the finger had begun to contract, and it was probably too late to do anything. He sent us to a plastic surgeon, who said nothing could be done but amputation.
That might have been three years ago? So he decided to live with the contracted finger. The decision to voluntarily cut off a digit was just too bizarre to contemplate.
Around nine months back, his sister Gerry had been to an orthopedic surgeon appointment with a friend. She told him about Husband and he said - I would love to see him. There is no way that amputation is the only alternative. So we had our good GP refer Husband to this surgeon in a different city, and yesterday we went to Cambridge and met with him.
Dr. Mathew is a GREAT doctor. He dealt immediately with another issue Husband had on his left hand - a cyst full of joint fluid that our good GP said probably would not be covered by OHIP. He drained it in 15 seconds, right there, with a lot of enthusiasm. He is eager to do surgery on Husband's contracted finger because he is a 'hand guy' and every time he does this surgery, he goes a little further and results are a little better.
He says he likes to push the envelope.
Husband is so hopeful today. It is a scary lesson to us here, though. It's crazy luck of the draw to get a good doctor. Bad ones exist. And great ones are not easy to find. Our good doctor sent us to a good plastic surgeon, but he should have sent us to an orthopedic specialist. We should have insisted on a better choice, but we are one generation away from the generation that treated doctors like gods.
And they are only human.
[If you made it to the end of this long post, Dupuytren's Contracture is hereditary, mostly affecting those of Northern European heritage. One of his sisters also has this disorder. Bill Nighy the British actor in Love Actually has this as well, in 2 fingers in each hand. I remember noticing and rewinding over and over to show Husband.]
As lovely as our Canadian health system is, I have learned that doctors are just people and some are good, some are great and some are crap.
Our family physician we had when we first moved to Hamilton was crap. Sad but true. [Lost my cancer-confirming ultrasound for example] When husband went to him when his finger began to contract, Dr. M told him there was nothing that could be done until the finger was completely contracted, like it is now. So Husband waited.
When the finger had contracted as far it could get, Husband went to our new doctor, who I consider a good doctor. He said husband should have seen a surgeon as soon as the finger had begun to contract, and it was probably too late to do anything. He sent us to a plastic surgeon, who said nothing could be done but amputation.
That might have been three years ago? So he decided to live with the contracted finger. The decision to voluntarily cut off a digit was just too bizarre to contemplate.
Around nine months back, his sister Gerry had been to an orthopedic surgeon appointment with a friend. She told him about Husband and he said - I would love to see him. There is no way that amputation is the only alternative. So we had our good GP refer Husband to this surgeon in a different city, and yesterday we went to Cambridge and met with him.
Dr. Mathew is a GREAT doctor. He dealt immediately with another issue Husband had on his left hand - a cyst full of joint fluid that our good GP said probably would not be covered by OHIP. He drained it in 15 seconds, right there, with a lot of enthusiasm. He is eager to do surgery on Husband's contracted finger because he is a 'hand guy' and every time he does this surgery, he goes a little further and results are a little better.
He says he likes to push the envelope.
Husband is so hopeful today. It is a scary lesson to us here, though. It's crazy luck of the draw to get a good doctor. Bad ones exist. And great ones are not easy to find. Our good doctor sent us to a good plastic surgeon, but he should have sent us to an orthopedic specialist. We should have insisted on a better choice, but we are one generation away from the generation that treated doctors like gods.
And they are only human.
[If you made it to the end of this long post, Dupuytren's Contracture is hereditary, mostly affecting those of Northern European heritage. One of his sisters also has this disorder. Bill Nighy the British actor in Love Actually has this as well, in 2 fingers in each hand. I remember noticing and rewinding over and over to show Husband.]
Dr.Mathew was my surgeon! He is a wonderful doctor. He is going to fix my father in laws Dupuytren inflicted finger too. Like your husband, he was told by his GP that nothing could be done for it. The GP also refused his request for a second opinion. I'm not sure how he came to be referred to Dr. Mathew as he doesn't have a GP anymore.
ReplyDelete(Dr. Mathew is one of the most respected orthopedic surgeons in Ontario.)
Wow this is very cool, Husband will be so happy to hear this. It was so discouraging to think that his one finger was never going to be fixed.
DeleteMy FIL had his left hand fixed years ago, 15 or more. He is most anxious to be getting the right done as the left was successful. I don't know why some Dr's think it is a lost cause. My poor father was told that it was irreparable and suffered terribly with his. He would catch it on clothing, his rollator, etc. and it caused him wicked pain.
DeleteI was sure I had left a comment here, but perhaps I only read the post and intended to come back later to comment. Anyway -- good luck and best wishes for a successful fix!
ReplyDelete