Some ten years ago I found out I have Viking hand, or, as it is more officially known, Dupuytren’s contracture. It’s a condition that pulls your fingers in, starting with the ring finger, so in the long run you can’t open your hand anymore. In my case, it starts with a lump on the tendon to my left ring finger. And it’s sore.
Two things made this condition worse: hard manual work and old age. I got symptomatic because I did multi-week research cruises, in which I would do 12-hour shifts 7 days a week lugging heavy sediment core sections around. But if I’m not on a research cruise, my job isn’t very manual, so after that initial flare-up, my symptoms vanished again.
When manual work won’t get you, old age will. And it looks like I have reached the age now where even if you’re a bit of a pen-pusher, you get symptomatic. Bugger!
Back in the days, I dealt with the issue using swing top bottle washers. I could place them over the lump on my tendon, and then it would be protected. I still have them. I even made a clever slip-on thing that was a lot more low-key than taping the washer to my hand. I haven’t found that yet! But if I won’t, I can make one again.
I now also have to think about radiotherapy. It seems to be able to significantly slow down or even stop the progression of the disease, according to the British Dupuytren Society. But it looks like a difficult thing to get if you live in Wales! I’ll have to look into this a bit more. And in the meantime, I’ll just try to deal with the symptoms as they are. I suppose that this time, they’re here to stay!
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| No visible symptoms yet, but for how long? |
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