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Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html
Showing posts with label Dupuytren's Contracture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dupuytren's Contracture. Show all posts

Friday, April 3, 2015

{My Hand with Dupuytren's Contracture - Update}

It is now almost half a year ago, since I had unexpectedly surgery on my left hand's index finger. Due to severe swelling, Edema, they had to open it up and look inside. 
You can see the huge swelling on my left index finger; Edema.
Having a rare auto immune disease could also trigger such unusual reaction.
After my total histerectomy, I even suffered Angioedema because of ACE inhibitors that I took for controlling my blood pressure, which I had to stop using of course.
An orthopedic surgeon opened up my index finger, on the outside and inside.
They started growing a culture but nothing was growing in it and I felt like having undergone surgery in vain... Also I'd begged to have it done by my Hand Surgeon, whom I saw in April of 2012, for my Dupuytren's Contracture. 'No, any orthopedic surgeon can do this I was told!'
This photo is of October 18, one day after surgery while still at the hospital, for a total of 6 days.
You don't realize how handicapped you are with only the use of one hand...
It was a time that I asked husband Pieter to bring me the lap-duvet, my own sewing creation from the left over down duvet that I used for enlarging the European sized twin duvets. I'd sewn a soft duvet cover for it from cable print flannel sheets that were on sale at Garnet Hill 
Don't know about your hospital experience, but I was almost freezing during my stay!
During surgery they had bruised my eyes and nose, making me look like I had been in a fight!
Could they not more carefully place the mask over my nose and mouth for putting me to sleep?
Not my best days...
At the first check up with J. Richter, M.D. he told me that sometimes, surgery does not go following the book... BUT with aggressive therapy, 3 times weekly, I would be able to fully use my finger again.
At Fairview Park Hospital: Rehab Unit they put Kinetix band on and treated me with Ultrasound in order to get rid of the aggressively formed scar tissue.
On November 14, 2014 still a lot of swelling as the Edema persisted.
You can see where orthopedic surgeon J. Richter, M.D. cut the finger open and also on the underside.
Dupuytren's Contracture does cause scar tissue to grow more aggressively...
One more reason I had begged to see my Hand Surgeon in Macon!
Finally, after going to the local hospital's rehab center, for 6 weeks, 3 x weekly, I managed to see my Hand Surgeon in the next city, one hour driving from where we live.
His first question nearly floored me. 'Where did you go for therapy?' I told him at Fairview Park Hospital Rehab. He then asked me: 'Why didn't they send you to a certified hand therapist?'... 
I realized that not only was I told that this surgery was not exactly following the books and now I learned that my first two months of precious healing time had not been fully utilized because, unknowingly, I did not see a certified hand therapist! 
So I committed to driving the long distance from than on. Surgery cannot be redone, sure it would have been a different outcome had Waldo E. Floyd III, M.D. done my surgery to begin with.
At Ortho Georgia, Diana, one of the experienced and licensed Hand & Upper Extremity therapists, provided me with an elastic finger for wearing during the day in order to reduce the swelling.
A gel coated elastic finger to wear at night, all for reducing the swelling...
She got me a splint to wear at home, for some 20 minutes at a time, about 4 or 5 times daily.
This in order to further stretch and straighten my finger.
From the side...
Here you can see my nodules from the Dupuytren's Contracture in the palm of my hand and it has extended out towards that index finger. You also can see where the scar tissue has kind of caused a nodule.
In order to bend the finger again, I had to wear this elastic strap, just simply stapled together and tightened over time, as I progressed.
Needless to say that when having to do all this, the usual household chores like baking, cleaning etc. are very much restricted!
This is on January 19, 2015 and still very much swollen and red.
At OrthoGeorgia I started out each time with this Whirlpool treatment.
Ground up corn cobs, an inert medium, are being circulated by hot air inside.
I had to insert my lower arm and hand and with a velcro sleeved extension it got closed off.
photo courtesy of Ortho Georgia and not my hand!
Next Diana would treat my finger with ultrasound, for reducing the scar tissue.
On January 22, after removing the gel coated elastic finger that I wore during the night...
At Ortho Georgia Rehab I had to work with pegs...
Shooting off these little 1.25 inch porcupine rubber balls, with your thumb and index finger.
Diana custom made me a brace for wearing, so the lowest finger joint could not bend; thus forcing the other two to function on their own.
Diana would stretch, bend, flex and massage my finger; well I could better write that she tortured me but I endured it for the benefits I got out of it. ONLY wish I could have started off with her right after surgery...
This is for bending the finger for a certain length of time.
This is today, still somewhat swollen and red but when I got my check up yesterday with Waldo E. Floyd III, M.D. in Macon, he told me that I better quit the therapy.
First he asked me if I could live with this finger the way it is...
What can I say? I have to accept it and in the almost six months time, I've grown used to it and look forward to normal use of both of my hands without being restricted due to all these things.
He still suggested I use my THERABATH PROFESSIONAL THERMOTHERAPY PARAFFIN BATH for warming up and than continue with the strap etc. at home. 
It has been a very expensive time for us and I often say, paying for hospital bills is far more expensive than being at the most luxurious Resort!
What bothered me was that I was not correctly advised for seeing a certified person and even worse, when comparing the billing between the non-certified, so-called hand therapist and the really professional one!
On December 1, 2014, this was the bill from our local Fairview Park Hospital Rehab.
Ultrasound therapy $ 377.25. Luckily I had reached my deductible of $ 5,000.- at that time!
At Ortho Georgia only $ 47.00
Sure, I'm not finger-pointing but there IS a difference!
With my new insurance, I've paid over 2015 already $ 1,150.83 out of pocket...
~
Life goes on, even after we have had a rough ride this year with also my Mom's death, husband Pieter's Angina Pectoris (heart cramp) after Mom's passing.

But we did enjoy a lovely 6 days in Arizona from March 22 through 27, using our free companion ticket from Delta that would expire on March 31. 

Related links:
{There You Go Again... Update} | previous post by me about bullying siblings that attacked me for NOT going to Mom's funeral while still having rehab and NO financial means for paying the very expensive ticket (short term booking)... I've forgiven them and only pray that they will change. It is up to God to deal with it.
{My Hand and Dupuytren's Contracture} | previous post by me
{Fighting the Water + Scanning Slides} | previous post by me
{Dutch Twin Down Duvets Altered to American Size} | previous post by me


Saturday, March 2, 2013

{Fighting the Water + Scanning Slides}

  • On Friday we drove to Atlanta, early morning in heavy rain... Luckily on the way home it only was drizzling. 
  • Saturday was my day for cooking a dinner for 8 people, at our home. You did see some pictures from the table setting earlier this week. 
  • While entertaining our guests, husband Pieter went downstairs twice for emptying the full, 6 gallons, wet vac in his work  shop. Water was seeping in from the outside wall, where our gutters could not hold all the rain water, neither were the pipes big enough for transporting it away from the house. Maybe some burrow from a chipmunk; who knows why and how; but it found its way inside. 
  • No damage, nothing as we have all tile floors. Great thing was that we have those TRINITY EcoStorage™ NSF 6-Tier Wire Shelving Racks on wheels from Costco, so we could easily wheel them off! Imagine having fixed shelves... But it is quite a challenge that Water Control!
  • After serving dessert to our guests, I did scoot downstairs to empty the big bucket and to mop up some water. 
  • But we had no idea it would worsen over night. It was nearly impossible to keep up with it and we could not go to sleep. 
  • Pieter did lie on the bed a couple of times to stretch his back and during the in-between time, I sat at my old laptop + Epson scanner (my second) for scanning our slides. In the office upstairs I keep another Epson scanner for non-slide scanning jobs. Archiving everything...

On the left is the opening for pushing strips of negatives inside...

  • Got a lot of slides done that way, because it did not stay with only one night. In fact, on Thursday night we had everything dry and could sleep in one stretch through the night without any bucket-emptying duty.
  • But kudos to the inventors of those wet vacs or shop vacs. Ha-ha, shop vac it was, as it worked for us in Pieter's work shop! 

  • This one, our second, came from The Home Depot and holds 6 gallons or 22.7 liter.
  • It takes some muscle power for lifting them, all night long = divided by two humans!
  • Also wringing out those floor cloths takes some energy...


  • Soaking up some water with old raggedy floor cloths... called 'DWEILEN' in Dutch.


  • This kind of work did ask for some 'Popeye' food so I sautéed some baby spinach with garlic to eat with scrambled egg, made from egg beaters. 
  • That makes for a yummy and healthy heart meal! Read about how to on my FB Page: facebook.com/MariettesBaktoBasics


  • Pieter got smarter as he opened up the wall, so he could attach the hose right there to suck the water up.
  • He left his knee pads still on the floor...
  • The noise of this 6 gallons shop vac changes when it's full, so next door in the Rose Suite's living room, I got up from my slide scanning job and took the lid off in order to empty it out.


  • 6 gallons shop vac - wet/dry utility vac
  • It served us very well!


  • My hands sure didn't look that happy after wringing out floor cloths that many times...
  • I never wear any gloves; just use my bare hands.


  • My left hand with the Dupuytren's Contracture after one year...
  • Still functionable and even able to perform heavy duty.
  • Did any of you have to fight some water?
  • We're lucky with no damage, except that the wool/silk rug in the Rose Suite living room got wet on one side, earlier on February 12 on my Mom's birthday when we also had to fight the water.
  • I really feel for all those that lost valuables such as photos or whatsoever due to real flooding!

As Pieter's Dad always used to say: 'Water is like Money; there is Enough of Both but it only is Poorly Distributed...'

Related links:
{Table Setting for Friends} | previous post by me
{Our Wild Creek} | previous post by me
{Our Rose Suite Work Shop & Mariette's Back to Basics Shipping Center} | previous post by me
{My Hand and Dupuytren's Contracture} | previous post by me

Sunday, April 29, 2012

{My Hand and Dupuytren's Contracture}


  • While on vacation at the Hyatt Regency in Curaçao I did discover two lumps in my left palm... 
  • Very strange and it did worry me of course. 
  • After coming home I did check in with my internal medicine doctor and he put me on Mobic, against the inflammation as it felt hot too. But it didn't do anything. 
  • Next was a visit to my specialist, the one who has been treating me since I got paralyzed ←(click it) almost completely from a rare auto immune disease, early January 2010. 
  • They diagnosed me with Polymyalgia Rheumatica and treated it with Prednisone and I also have to take weekly the Atelvia for preventing bone loss (side affect from the Prednisone). 
  • Got so happy for being completely off the Prednisone in November of last year. 
  • But now I got a new dose of Steroids injected into one of the lumps. 
  • It didn't go away though, it slightly hardened. My specialist suggested to monitor it as the x-rays didn't show him anything that would make him nervous. 
  • But it started to bother me more and more and not knowing what it actually is, created a knot in my stomach. 
  • So this Thursday I did go to see a hand surgeon at the Orthopedic Center in the next city. 
  • Well, as it turned out there is NO cure for the condition that I have and it is called Dupuytren's Contracture. ←(click it) Named after French surgeon Guillaume Dupuytren (1777-1835) ←(click it) who discovered it.

  • It seems to be rare for having those lumps in the palm of the hand, not directly under the little or ring finger. 
  • Maybe I'm lucky?


  • This is how it looks when those nodules are formed under the little and ring fingers.
  • We do know one gentleman who has this problem in his right hand, exactly like on the photo to the left in this brochure that I received.
  • Well, there is no cure and I don't need treatment as long as I can place my hand flat on a surface.
  • Let's hope it will stay that way for a long time to come!
Former President Ronald Reagan is among 5 Famous People With Dupuytren's Contracture ←click it -
I also shared my Birthday with him!

  • By checking the Internet on the Causes, ←(click it) I also learned that it may be associated with an autoimmune reaction, where a person's immune system attacks its own body tissues. 
  • That happened in January 2010 when I ran a high fever and had a SED rate as high as it possibly could get, due to inflammation somewhere in my body. The Prednisone performed miracles for me.
  • A body is a tricky machine!


  • Risk factors... People from Northern European descent, they call it even the Viking Disease.
  • Diabetes also seems to be a risk factor. I do did have Diabetes Mellitus, or Type 2 but keep it under control by diet. 


  • Here they again list that it occurs more frequently in patients with diabetes mellitus←(click it).


  • How it is diagnosed? ←(click it)
  • Good to read that it may be painful in the beginning... so I might get rid of that after a while.
  • I also have noticed that with rainy weather it will be felt more. 
  • Not a real pain but some nagging feeling.
  • Well, it is nothing to applaud about but I thought it might be helpful for sharing this with others.


As is evident, lots of people have read here...

Let's enjoy the weekend as it will be my husband Pieter's Birthday on the 29th! 

Related link:
{Fighting the Water + Scanning Slides} | other post by me showing my hand


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