Dupuytren’s – Update

Oiginal article: https://gladtobegrey.blog/2018/12/19/dupuytrens/

I had quite a lot of interest in the blog about my finger operation before Christmas. It would appear people are much more interested in my discomfort than my views on Laurel and Hardy, a fact I hardly find surprising. I mentioned the healing process might take a while so here’s an update. I spent a week over Christmas permanently wearing the splint that the physio had produce for me. The only time it came off was to do the finger exercises which could be quite painful though seemingly not quite painful enough as I was to find out. Shortly after Christmas I returned to the hospital to have the stitches removed. The nurse said that the wound was looking quite good though I had to disagree – it looked utterly horrible to me. Miss Gibson was away presumably having a well earned Christmas break so one of the registrars was on hand to give me the news that I could take the splint off and start wiggling the finger as much as I could. The splint still had to be worn overnight, however, but the best news of all was that I could drive again, carefully.

The offending digit felt really quite weird. It was understandably swollen at the base where the incision had been made and it didn’t quite fit between the little and middle fingers either side of it. Added to that the whole of the side next to the pinkie was numb with no sensation whatsoever along its length. Though the stitches had been removed the wound still oozed blood from time to time and I still had to exercise the bloody thing. Eventually the wound cleared up leaving behind an impressive scar that would improve my reputation on the mean streets of the city, should I ever decide to frequent those areas. I had another visit to the physio a couple of weeks into the new year. It was the same one who had seen me and fitted the splint and she was quick and to the point: it’s recovering well but keep bending it. Like this… Owwwwwwwwww!!!! It would appear I had not been flexing it enough. Keep the splint on in bed until six weeks post op she told me then it can be ditched for good. It turned out that was the day I set off for Antigua so that was advice I gladly took when the time came.

So what of it now? Despite it being wiggled this way and that way with regularity the finger is still not quite straight. It has about a ten percent bend when I straighten it out as much as I can. It seems as though the knuckle deformed slightly as the Dupuytrens took hold so it is the bone structure rather than the now removed palma fascia that is causing the finger to flex. It isn’t much though so I’m not unduly concerned about it. The swelling has gone down a lot but that knuckle and the scar tissue still means the finger feels fatter than it should. I’ll get used to it no doubt. The numbness has all but disappeared which I’m really pleased about as it felt very weird before. What I’m most unhappy about is the ability to clench. It seems I’ve gone from a finger I couldn’t fully unclench to one I can’t fully clench. I’m not sure that is a good trade off. It might improve; indeed it already has from the days after the stitches were removed. I was, however, hoping that by now the digit would be operating like its Dupuytrens-free sibling on my right hand. That might have been an unrealistic aim. It might not be the most important finger of the ten I’ve got but you tend to miss it when it can’t do the things it used to do.