Hi
After being diagnosed with DD in Dec 2011 and and given the usual medical suggestion to wait for my condition to get worse before i had treatment. I'm a fine artist and my hands are important to me so i went on line to find out more about this condition. After seeing a bunch of images of hands in the last progressive stages and becoming totally convinced that it was going to happen to me tomorrow i began to panic!!
Then fortunately, I found this forum. What a relief!!
Here is a place where i can discover other people (even royalty and presidents) that have it too and i can find out what my options are to manage this disease through the collective knowledge and suggestions of the people in this forum.
So as a result of my research i saw that my condition is extremely mild and definitely in the early stages so I moved quickly and decided to get "zapped" with RT in Hamburg where the experience is the greatest and the cost appears to be economical. I went for my first session with Dr Seegenschmiedt in the end last April (2012) and everything went well. He's a hell of a nice guy and is extremely knowledgeable about the disease. His exam was thorough and encouraging and the treatment was painless. There has been no visible progression and my hands function without limitation (as they did when i first found out i had it).
I almost decided not to return after my first round thinking that i may not need it but after careful thought, i decided to do the right thing and continue with the proper regime. So, after the long flight from San Francisco, here I am ready to get zapped again in beautiful "Zapburg" to finish the protocol. And unlike the 1st time where i just came to Germany and returned to the USA immediately, this time I'm staying a bit longer to enjoy my radiation vacation and go to Italy after my treatment.
So if any of you are here as the same time as me, let me know i'm here till Sept 21, 2012
Much obliged
RichSF

I'll be back in San Francisco in time for a One man Show of my work Opening on
Oct 13 & 14

Edited 09/17/12 01:01

Hi Rich,

I hope you have an enjoyable stay in Hamburg ! I was there in March 2012 and had the misfortune of not getting evaluated by Prof S. as he had come down with pneumonia. Instead, I was seen and treated by 2 others at the Center.
It was terribly disappointing to miss the expertise of Prof S. I have not yet had the second round of RT.
I was wondering if Prof S expressed any concerns about 4-1/2 months between your treatments rather than the 10-12 wks usually recommended. I have progression in both hands and wonder if I've waited too long for 2nd RT.

Meg