Another Surgery

I thought I was offering something of a joke when I suggested to my surgeon that it might be best to just cut off the pinky finger of my right hand, but I was surprised when he responded a bit too casually with, “Well, that’s a possibility, but I think we should try surgery again before amputation.” I suffer from Dupuytren’s Contracture (or disease or syndrome or fracture), a painless affliction, a hardening of the fibrous tissue beneath the skin of the palm that causes the fingers corresponding to the affected tissue to slowly flex or curl eventually into a permanent grip. Four years ago I underwent surgery (called fasciectomy) on my right hand to reverse the curling of the pinky finger, which had made it difficult to put my hand in my pocket or glove and impossible to use in typing. The surgery went fairly well, but I was told going in that it was not unusual for the condition to return. And it has. It’s more of an inconvenience, or at most a frustration, one more incessant reminder of age. I’m going in for another surgery. I don’t hold out much hope that it will alleviate the condition for more than a couple of years. But then that’s a couple of years before the next best option is amputation. And I can’t imagine a more defining marker of aging than when they start lopping off appendages.