Cathleen´s disease process

On November 17th, 2004 I received the following email (this has been approved by the author for publication on this page):

Hello,

I would also like to do my part because I want to encourage everyone who has been diagnosed. Because I myself am also affected and the previous page helped me a lot in processing the diagnosis.

It probably started a few years ago because I always had to deal with tendinitis. As you know, there was always injections and creams, but sometimes they were immobilized with a splint. But once that wasn't enough. So on June 12, 2003. Several fractures were found in my hand, which were fresh and also a long time ago. After that I was given a cast for about 6 weeks, the usual game of physical therapy magnetotherapy, but it didn't get better and the pain became unbearable.

Then I was sent to the MRI and they found stage 3B lunate malacia. Since I had already made myself smart, I knew THAT means nothing good. Normally this means that the wrist is fully stiffened. But I still wanted to find an interim solution.

I had an operation on January 19, 2004. A piece of bone from the pelvic bone was placed in the place of the lunate, and the carpal bones were stiffened with a plate. So I have a partial stiffening in my wrist. This means that radial abduction is no longer possible. The scar is on the side of the wrist, a very thin and fine line (because you can hardly see it today). The operation lasted about 3 hours and was performed under general anesthesia in a day clinic and I was very happy to be able to go home the next day because I was doing pretty well.

This was followed by a plaster of paris loungeuette and daily dressing changes. Then six months of occupational therapy and physiotherapy. It was very exhausting and painful, but I noticed a little progress every week. With a lot of effort and effort, I can say today that the clenching of teeth was really worth it. I then had the opportunity to intensively train my hand again as part of a rehabilitation measure and get it fit for fine motor skills. There the last swelling gave up and I was able to access it again.

Now I have to say I am very proud of myself that I have mastered everything so well, even though I would have liked to stick my head in the sand at the beginning. But for the moment I am healthy and have been almost pain-free since summer, except for the days when the weather changed. Although we all know that complaints can occur again and again in the course of our lives.

For myself I have learned to live with the partial stiffening and also have a few little tricks for everyday life to make life almost the same as it used to be. I now also know that you shouldn't worry so much in advance, because you always imagine everything to be a bit worse, you should just let it come to you and then make the best of it.

I also managed to go back to work, it is not the same work as I did before, but now I'm sitting at the PC and think it's best for my hand. I also received guidelines on the way.

As soon as the pain gets worse and the hand swells immediately to the Doc! Avoid carrying heavy loads (including the shopping basket) and supporting them in the total bending area of the HG!

I hope I was able to give you a little courage, because the world won't end soon! even if it sounds bad at first, but I think a good doctor is already half the battle and just don't accept everything from the gods in white, but also discuss things and try other ways!

I would like to thank everyone who helped me during this time and especially Dr. Peter Hansel.

I wish you all the best and keep it up. There are many more people affected who don't even know.

Many greetings, Cathleen