I was diagnosed with JRA at 18 months old and now, at the age of 29, I have quite extensive joint damage. I have had both my hips and elbows replaced and know that they can do other joints like knees and shoulders, but I was wondering if anyone knew what the options were for fingers and wrists? Last I heard, wrists can not be replaced and some finger joints can be replaced. Was just wondering if anyone knows of any info on this subject, if anyone has had anything like this done, or if anyone has heard about any new surgical options or if there is anything new on the horizon to look forward to.
Thanks,
Jesse
Not to sound grim, but I remember how the Dr's hung their heads and whispered to my mother and father when they x-rayed my left wrist and found a couple of the bones had already fused together. They made it out to seem as if there is nothing you can do for a wrist. I've never had a Dr tell me they could do anything about it. They always said it was "a shame" Pfftt. Maybe someone will figure it out though. Would be nice. I don't mean to be a raincloud...sorry, just letting you know my experience. Especially since my wrist was the only thing that my Dr's ever paniced about. Hey, have you seen Grandma's Boy? It's really funny, and there's a line in there I think you'd appreciate - there's a really nerdy kid who's rich and he says "I'm thinking about getting roboic legs. It's really expensive, but totally worth it" Haha :)
*10 minutes after posting..*
To ammend this...I forgot (don't ask me how) My boyfriend nearly cut his hand off when he was about 8, they had to reattach all of his nerves, tendons, and muscles in his wrist, it took him 7 years to regain use of it, and he still doesn't feel properly with it, and has lost some control. So, in knowing what went on with that, I think the reason that they don't do a lot of wrist surgeries is because of how much crap is crammed in them. You can actually SEE the bundle of nerves and tendons in my b/fs wrist, due to the way they put it back together, and its HUGE. It really is amazing how much stuff is in there. And I remember when I was diagnosed with carpel tunnel and tendinitis the Dr explained how intertwined everything was in there, and that I was only going to continue to get itisisisis haha and other problems. OH WELL. That's the way it goes, right? I did NOT mean to put a damper on things!! Just thought I'd share!
Hey there. Don't worry too much about sounding "grim". I pretty much already knew there wasn't really anything they could do about wrists, just looking for confirmation on that more than anything. I always assumed they were such a problem because of all the bones in your hands (seems like I heard that of the 200+ bones in the body, the ones in the hands and feet outnumber all the rest put together), but I never even thought of all the nerves involved. My main reason for wanting to get work on my hands would be to be a better guitar player, and I was always aprehensive about doing anything because I am not the best guitarist in the world, but I am ok. And I wouldn't want to have anything done that would make matters worse. I have mostly thought about doing my fingers but thought that might weaken my fingers or the replacements might not hold up to the constant use and stress on the joints. So I would rather stay where I am than going through with the pain and recovery time of surgery and then finding out that I was better off before. Does that make any sense? Anyway, I am just trying to get as much info on things as I can. So far, I think I'm better off just waiting and hoping that medical technology gets better and that my hands don't get too much worse.
By the way, yes, I have seen Grandma's Boy. I thought that was hillarious! And yeah, robtic legs would be pretty sweet.
You just keep doing what you are doing, because you really do make others happy for knowing you.
Okay so, because she added to the thread, it was an active topic...so I read it...and this has nothing to do with anything, except it'll make you smile.
Jessica and I (at work) laughed so hard...there's a guy painting our walls here, and he's on stilts and all we could think about was adding hydrolics to them to make them robotic. I'm thinking of taking a picture of him and photoshopping it onto someone I know. Hahaha