Hi all-
I've moved so I have a new email name but it's still ME = Miriam Lubow now living in Redmond, WA.
So,today I visited a doctor- hand and wrist orthopoedic surgeon, in Bellevue.
He said I have it Baaaaaaad, being that both my hands are affected and also my feet.

He asked how fast it was progressing and I must say it is progressing pretty fast now.
I had surgery on the ring finger of my right hand 2 1/2 years ago but he agrees surgery should NOT have been performed just to remove a lump on the ring finger. Surgery usually is only performed ( or should be) when there is a contracture , he says.
So... he of course suggested surgery- what else could I expect?
He said the chord on my right hand ring finger was pretty thick and likely to get worse threfore harder to take care of.
Isn't this a coincidence that the finger in question now is exactly the one that was operated on- now it's this finger which has the biggest problem and he said he would need to cut almost from the tip of the finger all the way down to my wrist.
Doctor also said he did not agree with the fact that once you have surgery things get worse-
He said things getting worse... "is the natural progression of the disease" and that things would have progressed to the same exact stage even had I not had surgery...
So go figure !

I do NOT want to have surgery now as I do not have any contractures on either hand (so far) My right hand is bent insofar as I cannot lay it flat on the table, but it does not bother me that much and I am in no pain.

I cannot afford to go to France for NA so I guess I shall wait and see what comes up as far as new treatments or a cure ( !) to help us out.
Doctor also mentioned he knew about Dr Marie Badalamente (he mentioned her to me first) and said she is NOT an MD just a PhD and he has NO confidence that her theory will prove to be effective. Suggested I return to visit him in 6 months to see how hands are doing at that point.

Does anyone have any idea how DIABETES affects recovery from either surgery or NA ??? I just cut my finger two weeks ago with a knife while cooking and cut still has not healed so I'm wondering.Thanks for any input!
Miriam

Jerry,
What was your condition going in to surgery?
Was it just the normal contraction like most surgeries for DC or did you have other problems? I have never heard costs as high as yours. If it was the normal DC, then the costs were very high and your problem would be with your surgeon and the Boston hospital, not the whole "medical establishment", I would think.

Hey 'Sean', what prices have you heard are the norm for DC surgery and where do you get your info?

All,

I had faciectomy surgery Nov 1, 2002 from almost my
wrist to the 2nd joint in the r.h. little finger. It was outpatient with general aneth. Final costs were similar to what Sean mentioned. What was interesting however was how much was billed and what the insurance allowed.
The hospital billed over 14,000 dollars (which I found astounding as I was only there for a few hours), while the insurance allowed for only about $1400 of this. Also the
pathologist billed for over 100 dollars, while the insurance
allowed for only $3.75! It seems like there is some kind of
pricing game going on.

Anyway after almost 3 months my little finger is within 10
degrees of straight (it was at about 90 degrees), and I'm
happy with the result so far. I'm all for NA or other alternatives to surgery though.

That just scared the Hell out of me! I had no idea surgery was so expensive. What happens to uninsured poor people. Do they go around with their hands in fists if they have Dup? This just sucks. We need universal health care. I don't know how I will afford surgery either. Damn.