Her pinch is back!
Terese Gaugh of California writes:
Recently I had the opportunity to work with a wonderful hand surgeon, Dr. Ross Nathan in Long Beach, California. His senior associate, Dr. Gerald Blatt, is also an excellent doctor and assisted with my surgery.
Dr. Nathan thoroughly examined my hands and we decided hand surgery was possible. He performed tendon transplants and I now can touch my thumb tip to the other tips of my fingers. In other words, I can finally pinch my husband properly!
I have many months of rehabilitation before I regain full use of my hand but I'm confident all will work out."

She needs her fingers for what they can do
Barb Leuzzi of New York writes:
My fingers are beginning not to do what I want them to do but we still like them, don't we. I need them for what they can do. Actually, they are just getting weaker. The hands and arms too.
The full teapot and coffee pot are now too heavy for my hands, and I am beginning to find it difficult to turn the water faucets on, and my fingers don't always go where I want them to on the keyboard, but my fingers never flew across the keyboard. I could never type more than 55 words per minute with five errors. It was so frustrating when I went for a typing job. I was always told to go home and practise some more and then come back and retake the test. After a while I refused to do that because I knew it wouldn't help. I knew that was all my fingers were able to do but I didn't know why. Now I know. I know what is happening but the doctors said they don't see any muscle atrophy, therefore they don't believe me.
I am able to type for my husband and he is a top salesman.

Grip improved
Micha Grillett of California writes:
When I was 18 and 19, I had my thumbs operated on. I have never regretted having it done. In my case, the outer ligament of the third finger was severed and drawn back to an incision on the wrist. It was then rerouted and attached to the thumb. It hurt, naturally, and was in a cast for a while. You will have to work with it to establish a thought pattern that works only the thumb and not the third finger but it is established fairly easily.
Although I still drop my pen occasionally, my grip was greatly improved and my manipulative strength is still excellent.

Surgery a success
Marie Cibotti of Vermont writes:
I was lucky to be diagnosed so quickly and correctly when the reason I went to a neurologist in the first place was simply to see if I had carpal tunnel syndrome. After several EMG tests and reading an article in the CMT Newsletter about carpal tunnel, I was encouraged to have the carpal tunnel release operation on both hands.
The surgery was extremely successful for me. I am a teacher and I really need to be able to reach writing and computer skills. So far, I have been doing all I want to do with little or no pain in my hands or arms.

Tendon transfers didn't work
Madeline Barbieri of Maine writes:
The operation on my fingers (intrinsic tendon transfers) didn't do anything for me. The doctor took the tendons from my hands and wrist and put them in my fingers just below the knuckles. There is no improvement. I questioned the doctor and he said he couldn't go past the knuckles because they were fused.

A tribute to hands
Michael Robinson of Alaska writes:
My hands are constantly exposed to cold. The truck I operate has a good heater which I keep turned right up. When I leave the truck to do some work outside, I turn the heater up on high and switch the control over to vent. Then when I scramble back into the truck, the warm air is right there blowing on my stiff little fingers.
About loving hands: these old hands have been cut, smashed, burned, frozen, covered with grease and oil, and who knows what kinds of "hot" solvents they have been soaked in over the years. They are slowly becoming less useable and I become very frustrated with them.
My lovely wife says, "Be nice to them. They have done for you far longer than you should have expected them to. They can still hold another hand and rub a sore, tired back or shoulder." And, although slowly, they can still bang out words on this computer. When I watch fellow workers (mechanics and truck drivers and others), I tell them to take care of those hands, because they are awfully hard to do without. Take care everyone!