My experiences, so far with NA. Background, I am 62yo and several years ago began to develop a bump under my wedding ring. I blamed it on a wide wedding band and hoped it would go away. Eventually I had to have the ring cut off and then hope it would return to normal. It didn’t. Then my finger contracted to the point I could not put on a glove. I will put off seeing a doctor for any reason so I put it off and off. To cut the story short I saw a doctor on an unrelated issue but disclosed my finger to her and she referred me to a hand guy.

In the meantime my brother, just two years older told me he was diagnosed with DP a couple of years ago and was told that OS was only option but no hurry. Recently he had been told by his Kaiser Norcal (San Fran) hand guy that he was now offering NA and he sent me some information on NA. I followed up.

By the time I went to my eval with my hand guy I was pretty informed and leaning to NA. I am with Kaiser in Oregon. My evaluation was short and to the point. To paraphrase: you have one option, open surgery. End of discussion. I countered with an intro to NA and offered a few print outs I had describing the alternative, less invasive procedure, to no avail. I was put on a list to schedule for full OS.

I then started an effort to seek alternative treatment within my Kaiser plan. I called Kaiser admin and patient relations, telling them that a Kaiser Dr. in California endorsed NA and I would like approval to seek eval and treatment from that physician. I also pressured my hand guy for a referral. It took a while. In the meantime I contacted my brothers doctor in Calif, sent him pictures and got his word that I was a candidate for NA and he would see me for eval and probable treatment. And eventually I got the formal referral from my hand guy so the paperwork would be approved.

Tuesday I drove to Calif, 670 miles for my Thursday afternoon appt. My wife accompanied me while I met for the first time Dr. James E Johnson, a senior member of Kaiser and Board Certified Hand Guy. He has been with Kaiser for about 30 years. Very experienced. As he began my procedure he told me he had been introduced to NA from Dr. Denkler of Larkspur, a long time friend. He has done NA for about two years, maybe 40 or so procedures.

My procedure was more complex than my brothers. His was about 20 minutes, mine 40 minutes plus. The pain shots were the worst part for sure and he had to repeat that part a couple of times. I didn’t watch much (any) but my wife did. She described the needle as more of a hook than the straight needle we watched in the UTube. Anyway I left the hospital with a much straighter finger, in little pain, and a substantial bandage.

The next morning I had a scheduled appointment with a PT for fitting of a brace and an intro to exercises. My dressings came off and I looked at my hand for the first time. No swelling but two tears of about a quarter inch each that looked like holes in my hand. I had not anticipated that