"The reason your only given a small amount is because when he starts cutting the chords he has to make sure he does not cut a nerve."

And there it is. The Magic. What most CHS don't as yet understand about his "crude" and "simplistic" procedure (Eaton's words) is that it is *not* blind after all. I think they are so accustomed to having their patients under General Anesthesia, it never occurs to them that the patients themselves can give them all the information they need to keep the procedure safe. Using the patient as their sensor, as opposed to their own eyes, must be a difficult concept to embrace.

Modern Micro hand surgery is now all about surgical microscopes. A terrific advancement to the old days. What you see is where it's at baby. But with NA....now it's all about the patient saying "I think you may be close to a nerve doc". Patients passed out on a gurney during OS wouldn't complain if you cut off their arm. The patient feedback loop during NA is a new shift to be sure.

John CT, I don't want to minimize you momentary pain for a moment. But it saved you from a chance of the permanent nerve damage that I now have from earlier OS. Trade 'ya.

I had my moments of pain from later NA as well. Too bad Pres doesn't have a good Oldies radio satiation like Eaton. Rock'n Roll and a little vallum and you can kiss months of painful recovery good by.:-)

Thanks for your description.

(Are you sure you aren't a fake poster making all this up?) :-)..........:-) Me thinks not.

John - Wow, what a description. I think I'm sorry I asked! What I had read before made it sound like nothing. I had to cancel my NA for Friday and tomorrow because our flight was cancelled due to the hurricane. I now have to wait until Dec. 8th and 9th. I'm a wimp and scared to death....but I just keep telling myself it will be over quickly and so much better than surgery! Now I'm going to try to block it out for awhile! Sherry

Sherry,

I'm beginning to suspect that, generally, Eaton uses more injected numbing agent than does Pres. Eaton must have injected me 4-5 times. My finger was so completely numb hours afterwards that I was a little concerned. It was so dead I personally didn't feel *any* pain from the snap. Eaton said something like "there we go!"......I'm lying there thinking "Really?" I had to look at it to see that something had indeed happened.

As medicine is an "Art", no two doctors will do everything quite he same way.

So I think you can avoid "snap pain", but as Alan points out, the price is paid later when your hand is still a bit numb the next day. Either way, at least you don't have to face the Hand Terrorist for the next month or so :-)

I can think of far worse things than the "snap" we've been discussing. When I was a kid the dentist would only use novocaine in extreme cases. To this day I still fear the dental chair.(How ironic that I ended up as a model where my smile is seen on dental brochures thruout the U.S. Canada and Western Europe). Earlier this year I had a cystoscopy in the urologist's office and nearly went thru the roof. So compared to these memories the "snap" was not a big deal. As with most things in life the anticipation is far worse than the event.

Eaton is a down to earth person who makes you feel as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. From his intro, "Hi, I'm Charlie Eaton", to his ability to carry the conversation thruout the NA procedure, I knew that I was in the right place.

Randy,
You say, "No. It isn't that fasciectomy is soooo bad. It's just that those who actually perform it would *love* to have something less invasive."

The CHS have an option at this time within their expertise (until they learn NA), and that is a fasciotomy which NA is representative. The only difference is the small incision(s) made with a fasciotomy. NA is just a different method than the standard fasciotomy as practiced by most hand surgeons around the world. It is basically a value judgment of which fasciotomy procedure is the best. The next value judgment is whether the longterm effects of the fasciotomy (NA) are generally superior to the fasciectomy. At this time it can (and is) be argued either way. The general consensus is that the fasciectomy has a longer lasting solution for Dupuytren's contracture than does a fasciotomy (NA).

Dr. Eaton will have the ability to facilitate these value judgments. It will be important information for everyone with Dupuytren's.