Patient Feedback

DOS: 1/19/23

Rob’s story begins when he was in his 40’s and noticed swelling in his knuckles and pain with certain gripping activities. He eventually went to see a doctor at UC Davis where he was told he had a very rare disease called Dupuytren’s. Rob wasn’t surprised, rather he surprised the doctor when he said, “I’m familiar with Dupuytren’s, my dad and my father-in-law both have it”!

Rob was told there are six red flags which can be indicators for how aggressive the Dupuytren’s might progress. He had all six.

1. Being male
2. Scandinavian heritage
3. Family history of Dupuytren’s
4. Dupuytren’s in both hands
5. Plantar fasciitis in the feet
6. Dupuytren’s symptoms before age 50

Other sites that help to determine if you might have Dupuytren’s:
https://www.everydayhealth.com/dupuytrens-contracture/signs-you-may-have-dupuytrens-contracture/

1. You feel a bump in your palm.
2. You can’t open your hand to perform everyday tasks.
3. You can no longer open your hand completely.
4. Your hand is tender and itchy.
5. Your hand doesn’t fit into gloves.
6. You’re having trouble with mobility.

Progression of the disease for Rob was slow…until it wasn’t!  About 10 years passed with only slow changes in the way Rob’s hand looked and felt. Then in December 2021, Rob became more aware of the depth of the creases forming and the puffiness in his palm. That’s when the disease really took off. By August 2022, Rob’s small finger had a 55˚ flexion contracture and he was no longer able to conduct some of his normal daily activities. 

After his original surgery date was delayed due his surgeon being injured, Rob had an appointment on 1/12/23 with another surgeon who told Rob that his “finger was too far curled in to do surgery” and he recommended the Digit Widget. Rob felt a good rapport with this new surgeon and didn’t want to wait any longer. Just seven days later on 1/19/23, Rob underwent surgery to have the Digit Widget installed. 

Rob admits that he was highly motivated and fairly aggressive with his band choices. Wearing the heaviest band was giving Rob the results he wanted, with a few he didn’t want! His finger would sometimes wake him during the night, so he would put on a lighter band and go back to sleep. He also felt more discomfort when he would bump his hand on things, which happened on occasion.

At his follow up appointment on 2/2/23, the Digit Widget had straightened Rob’s PIP joint from 55˚to 19˚. The surgeon said that was plenty, and Rob should lighten things up and move into “maintenance mode.”  As recommended by Dr. Agee (the inventor of the Digit Widget) Rob’s surgeon wanted Rob’s finger to spend just a little more time getting used to extension, so surgery was scheduled for a month out.

At this appointment, the surgeon showed Rob and his wife (who happens to be a nurse and amazing helper) how to disconnect the Connector Assembly from the device. Since it was a bit difficult to unsnap the device, Rob opted to remove just the hand wrap (officially called the Cuff), leaving the rest of the device to “dangle” for a bit. This gave Rob a little break and allowed for hand washing. Rob would put a small strap around the “dangling” part just to keep it from swinging around. 

A few days later, Rob and his wife took off for two weeks of camping. That is when he banged his hand “pretty hard, more than once, and it really hurt”!  Rob’s finger started to swell, and he actually thought it might have been broken. Lucky that wasn’t the case!

On 3/1/23 Rob had surgery again, this time to remove the Digit Widget and to perform Dupuytren’s surgery (in this case a fasciectomy). Six days later at Rob’s first appointment with an occupational therapist, his hand was unwrapped and Rob saw his stitches for the first time. Then on 3/13/23 the stitches were removed and the real healing began.

Less than a month later on 4/6/23, Rob returned to light sports activity; pickleball was “fine”, disc golf was not so great as Rob didn’t yet have enough range of motion. He was unable to curl his fingers in far enough, and didn’t yet have enough grip strength to hold the disc firmly enough for a good throw.

A few days later, Rob had his follow up appointment with his surgeon where they determined that everything was looking good, and his final occupational therapy appointment was on 5/2/23.

Now, nearly a year later, Rob has full range of motion and better grip strength. Rob is noticing that his opposite hand is getting a little worse. Luckily Rob’s experience with the Digit Widget was a positive one and he’s ready for whatever treatment plan lies ahead.