OCT24 Felt something wrong Right Hand using computer mouse. About same time started noticing pain, when turning my head towards either shoulder. Retired I.T. (Dutch) Male age 73 assumed strain from computer use, so I started using the mouse with my left hand and lifted the monitor with a stack of books.

DEC24 Pain in my neck quite unpleasant. GP organises XRAY. Also showed him the bumps in the palm of my hand. Doc was quick to diagnose it as DD or Vikings disease, which is quite common 22% in AUS at my age. But he did not suggest any treatment, maybe following order of Wait and See.

Doing my own research, I was very happy to come across this here Dupuytren Society with all that extensive information and user experiences. Better still, there may be an 85% chance of slowing or even stopping the disease. Sure for some the disease may not proceed, so then the Wait and See could save me and the Gov some effort and money.

Your reference for GenesisCare doing RT for DD in AUS is correct, but now their specialist in Melbourne is Dr Esther Sim. Unlike the Dutch, the AUS medical system Medicare is happy to pay for part of the treatment with an out-of-pocket expense for one hand between 340 and 1940 dollars. Only got an appointment with Dr Sim late January, because of the Xmas break.

Aus has a safety net, so once you have spend that max amount, all other treatments will be at that lower price. This means that any needle works or surgery should be done this year if needed.

Got an referral for GenesisCare from my GP and the XRAY result showed that I may have a case of OsteoArthritis in my neck.

JAN25 Oncologist confirms DD. Happy I did not Wait and See too long, cause by now I have 5 nodules and my small finger is bent at least 5 degrees at the middle joint. Doctor agrees and books me in for treatment.

3 Days later, they are making a mould for my hand, so that it will be in the same spot for 5 RT days. Here at GenesisCare in Melbourne the RT is delivered laying down with the hand above your head. They also did an MRI or XRAY of the hand.

FEB25 The next week 5 standard DD RT doses to a 9 by 8 cm area of my right hand starting at the first knuckle of the 4 fingers.

Afterwards every day feels like a sunburn to the palm, not painfull but noticeable. I apply QV intensive moisturiser after my shower.

Today almost 6 weeks after the RT, the sunburn is still present. One nodule, which was near my thumb, seems to have disappeared. So that is good ,but one can now pass a pencil under pinky and my hand flat on bench is now somewhat dome shaped. Next week, start of APR25, will be having the second RT dose.

Questions for now and I will report further progress.

Q1: A computer mouse is usually held by the thumb and the three fingers starting with small and manipulated by the index finger. Or the pinky is doing the holding and the three middle fingers do manipulation. So could this behaviour for hours on end initiate or aggravate DD ?

Q2: It may be a pain in the neck to have DD, but an actual pain in the neck diagnosed at the same time, is that a coincidence or is there a relationship ?

Q3: So funny feelings in pinky, then 2 or 3 months later some nodules and diagnosed having DD , then 6 weeks later 5 nodules and 5 degree bend and now, 6 weeks after the first week of RT, one can pass a pencil under pinky and further under my palm. Is this slow, average or fast and should I already be looking at doing some needle treatment ?

Edited 03/26/2025 13:08

Hi SB,
Thank you for that very quick response !

Yes, I doubt OA and DD are related. At my age, if you XRAYed any of my bones, there will be some wear and tear i.e. OA.

That is a deep question about the cause of my seemingly quick progress and the answer is a bit of a mouthfull:

Was living like a pioneer in the Aussie bush. Carved my own spot. Build everything myself. Totally offgrid in wild country. Played with the land and animals, but also took my city job with me, providing IBM Systems Support to various companies. Yes, I had some floods and fires. Even build a bunker to keep me safe. Then late 2019 it was like California and it totally wiped out my 2 sq km property. I was in it as well and managed to walk away with my life, wallet and one of my laptops.

So yes, I was nicely occupied. But my Mainframe Support had already faded before that fire and now I live again in a big city in a shoebox with absolutely nothing to do. So I play with my laptop a lot and yes, that means using the MOUSE and keeping my HEAD in a fixed place. Thanks, I will be testing other MOUSEs :)

I still have hope, that the RT might do some good. Some smaller nodule seems now gone. Early April due for the second set of RT, so maybe some improvement after that. That pencil test suggests, that I could already do NA, but I will wait a while and see what the doctors say.

Haha, should I pee on the hand ? Try anything, I suppose. No, the QV was recommended by GenesisCare, so I followed her order.

Regards,
Theo

Edited 03/26/2025 13:06