From Ian55
Hi Folks,
sorry about the password confusion.
Thanks for the comments which prepared me for seeing the surgeon the following day.
Here are some details in case they are useful to other people.
Firstly I was almost 2 weeks late with my first appointment due to first my fault and then
his holiday.I was not too worried about the delay as the stitches came out later than
they should have normally and the wound was a long way from being healed and had possibly
become slightly infected ,anti-biotic cream and dressings put on by the local doctor
took care of it.
I had been putting Marigold extract cream with Vit E. on my hand away from the wound area.


The surgeon was concerned that my small finger was still 90 deg to the palm
and prescribed immediate physio and ergo- therapy. Ergo -therapy concentrated on
how I should handle it myself - 1. 2x bathing per day with camomile (can use tea bags or
extract from the drugstore) in warm water while exercising the fingers
2. massage hard areas next to the wound in small circles
with pressure, using for example milking grease (in german - Melkfett) mine
also contains marigold extract.
3. massage rest of palm with a spiky massage ball
4. Continue sleeping with the hand elevated
5. regularly extending/stretching the fingers.
6. Heat therapy

I asked about why no splint and he said that was an old philosophy and can put too much tension
on the hand at the beginning (I have my doubts considering what you all wrote).

Then came the physio which was 20 mins of so called lymphatic drainage, somehow trying to
force the swollen areas away from your hand towards your elbow
and then basically 30 mins of hard massage and stretching the good
fingers flat.
This now runs every second day for 2 weeks so will let you know if there is any improvement.

As a footnote I would like to say I used this hand specialist because he did a very good job
on my wifes thumb last November and possibly I have myself to blame in leaving it too late.
On the other side when I discussed it with my local doctor 4 years ago after the first signs appeared,
he said it will need operating eventually (no other alternative was mentioned) and to
leave it as long as possible.
So if there is a message here and you are going with surgery don't leave it too late.

Hi,
Wolfgang
After 2 sessions of Ergotherapy and one session of Physiotherapy it is too early to tell so I will report in 2 weeks.

It let me in and let me post!!

Colleen

I see others are having the same problem as I with log on. It just does not work.

Hi Folks,

As I have received the bills for my operation and aftercare I wanted to inform anybody who is concerned about costs, because as we know not everybody has a national health system or private insurance.
I was charged 1131 Euros for my 1 pre-op visit, the operation plus 2 post-op visits to the surgeon and from my local doctor I was charged 293 Euros fot 10 visits including the pre-op blood test.I was treated as an out-patient
in a clinic near Munich ,Germany.