maybelateron

No quicker to get behind the wheel of an auto. It is the risk of having to make a sudden steering movement that is the decider really. That said, I am able to use the hydrostatic tractor around the yard to bring logs in, as that has a steering wheel knob on it, and the loader control is in the right. Looking again at my hand this evening I am now suspicious there might be more going on than the surgeon and I thought. I think there may well be an early band of tissue forming to the left of the scar, ie running towards my middle finger. With the amount that the very tight band that I have just had removed was lifting the skin up, I am wondering if this masked the early band to the middle finger, and without the middle finger being bent there was no other clue to this. I am not too concerned anyway, as I think that another scar over this possible band would make recovery slower, and I am guessing it would increase the risk of some of the skin between two cuts dying back due to loss of blood supply. As the condition is prone to recurring after some years post op I am not too bothered. I had already reckoned on needing more surgery if I don't die young (ish). Being 64 and not yet planning on retiring, and carrying on with some climbing, I was assuming there will be further surgery at some stage.

I had my one week follow up appointment today. Dressing taken off and wound checked. Stitches to stay in for another week. Can drive once stitches out. Physio made me a splint, using thermoplastic. I have to use this at night for the next 4 months. This is to prevent the scar tissue from any contraction. I can now start bending my fingers to mobilise them. I asked the physio if night splinting has a role in slowing down the progression of early DC. Her view was a definite no, the reason for this being the risk that prolonged pressure on the fibrous tissue might act as a stimulant to accelerate the process in the same way manual work can. Interesting thought. Photo of wound attached, along with one of splint. It is obvious already that the surgeon has achieved very good correction of the deformity for me. Before one of you makes the wisecrack about the splint: I can confirm this is for my hand, not the rare related condition affecting the penis, Peyronie's disease!

Morning all, Off to outpatients to have dressing on hand changed and see physio. Should be able to start driving in one week😀 Have a good day

Three of us sat in the chip box to eat our lunch one day, because it was raining heavily. The box was half - two thirds full of chipped laurel. We did start to feel a bit off/weak/whoozy after a while so we got out. I am not one who is prone to suggestion etc, so I think it was the fumes, nice though they smell.

Slight derail, but a similar thing I find so annoying: Firm come and dismantle large roadside standing tree, technical job, maybe using big mewp or even a crane; they then leave the 3ft diameter stump, which is not going to be ground out, with a horribly messy uneven cut from both sides, that has an inch difference in height between the two sides. I understand leaving it at 2-3ft so it is not a trip hazard, but if you have the kit and ability to dismantle the tree just have enough pride in the work to leave a tidy stump. I often put a bevel around the edge of stump if the customer agrees it will look better. There is an oak stump up our lane that has been left liek this by the council contractors. Sooner or later I will go and make it tidy.

Very true indeed, and they will repeat the fiasco next time you work for them.

Morning all, No phone calls so far, so I assume the area got off reasonably lightly. No apparent damage looking out of the windows, and I can see a lot of trees looking happy.

Morning all, I apologise in advance for the coming storm and winds. Definitely my fault. Why? I hear you all say. I have found the best predictor of impending storms is me being unavailable for emergency work. I have missed out on plenty of storm damage work (not that I'm bothered) by either being on holiday, or post op - knees x 3 and now hands x 2. No - I don't have three knees before one of you cracks that joke. Next time I have a date for any future surgery I can let you all know. Then you can make sure you are available or unavailable, whatever your preference may be. Stay in or go out, but stay safe and carpe diem.

I have given up supplying logs apart from 2 customers in my village. Processing the timber was something we could do in bad weather. The reason I have given up is that I cannot bring enough tiber back from tree work. As has been said earlier, almost all tree customers now keep it, if not for themself then for their nephew who lives 20 miles away but has a van.

Morning all, Happy 71st birthday Stubby.

Morning all, Yet another nice blue sky day here.

I don't know in short, but I guess the fact you can get night splints for it suggests there is at least no harm in trying stretching. I am going to try and get some fingerless gloves, with gel pads in the palm area, to wear under my disposable work gloves. I am hoping they can reduce the vibration my hands are exposed to, and also the sideways shearing force when climbing.

I am sorry to hear of your situation, must be very frustrating with it to that extent in both hands. I don't understand why you say you can't get on a waiting list in your area. I know the NHS is in a mess, but your degree of DC is still something that merits an appointment with a surgeon, even if you have to wait for ages for it.

Fingers crossed for you, no pun intended. One would think you will get away with it now.

There is no shame in declining a job that you don't really want to do. I'm not saying that is the case here, but it is always an option.

Morning all, Lovely cold dry and blue sky again here. Mind you, I'm indoors and reading a book etc. Stay warm.

I think you mentioned this previously after my first post. I know you hit the big 60 not that long ago, and I wonder if it might not progress too quickly if you don't do too many more years on the tools. One other option with an early case might be wearing a splint at night, but I don't know the success rates of this. Another newer treatment, I think for early cases, is injecting an enzyme into the area that will break down the collagen, then a day or so later having your hand pulled straight to stretch the fibrous tissue. Hope yours stays dormant for you.

Mine isn't affected I am pleased to say, but it is so small in this cold weather it would be invisible.

Dupuytren's Contracture is quite a common problem in people who do work involving repetitive gripping with their hands, and also with vibrating machinery. Perhaps not surprisingly then, arb work is an ideal career to increase your chances of this condition. I had my surgery for it yesterday, and a few people expressed interest in a thread on the condition and its treatment, so here goes. There are some other causes for the condition, one being family history. Dupytren's Contracture (DC I shall abbreviate it to) is a condition usually mainly affecting the hands, but it can affect the feet, and rarely present as Peyronie's disease, affecting the penis, believe it or not. The process is one where the tissue layer between the skin and the deeper layers of muscle and bone becomes thickened with excessive collagen, and this contracts. As a result of the contracting, some of the fingers are then pulled in towards the palm, like a claw. The most commonly affected fingers are the ring and little ones, but the middle can certainly be affected. I have never seen a case affecting the index finger. The mechanism in the feet is similar, but much rarer. When it affects the penis, which is not at all common, the flaccid penis looks normal, but when erect it pulls to one side, due a band of tight tissue on one side preventing equal extension of both sides of the organ. I have attached some photos of both of my hands. My left hand, which is the one I have had done yesterday, started over 20years ago, before I was a tree surgeon, and was very minor for many years; it is probably the last five years or so where it accelerated its progress, more rapidly of late. My right hand is in the earliest stages, but I suspect will develop more quickly. If DC is left to progress too far it can reach a point where surgery cannot reverse it fully. I recently met a lady in her fifties who had just had her little finger amputated due to a very aggressive form of DC. She had had previous surgery, but surgery cannot prevent the condition recurring. If the only joint affected is the metacarpophalangeal joint, the one where the finger joins the hand, the surgery is likely to get a good result. Once the DC has progressed to the next knuckle along the finger the success of surgery can be more limited. If you have ever managed to see Bill Nighie's hands this is a case of severe DC. The pre op pictures of my left hand do look like it is the tendon that is affected, a common misunderstanding, not surprisingly when it look like this. My ring finger is the one most affected. The little finger is totally unaffected, and if it looks slightly flexed this is something I have on both little fingers that is hereditary and not progressive. My middle finger is involved in that a "cord" (the surgeons word) had started to extend from my palm into the base of the finger and was pulling the finger slightly into flexion/bending, but more so that it was pulling the finger sideways towards the ring finger. I am guessing that for a chainsaw operator the risk of DC is greater for the left hand. I say this because the left hand carries more of the weight of the saw when operating it, and also suffers more vibration than the right hand does, either on a rear handle or top handle. And the sheering force (again the surgeons words) of pulling on ropes and you have an ideal set of risk factors for DC, I reckon. In terms of symptoms I have never experienced pain with it. The problems as it progressed for me were difficulty getting me hand in and out of pockets and into tight spaces, typically when spannering etc. A more domestic problem was when getting breakables out of the kitchen cupboards I have had to be careful to make sure I didn't unwittingly pull out something I was not holding. When glasses or crockery drop onto a solid floor there is only one outcome! Another frustration I had was that my ring finger would brush the escape button at the top left of my laptop keyboard, resulting in wiping out anything I had typed onto a document. I quickly learnt to frequently hit the save button. My surgery yesterday was done under general anaesthetic and took about an hour. I was able to come home the same day. My stitches have to stay in for 2 weeks, then a have a review appointment. I can start driving once the stitches are removed. The surgeon predicts I can probably use a chainsaw in 4 weeks, and resume climbing in 6 weeks, which I think is pretty promising. I hope that I can get some gel filled fingerless gloves, like cycling gloves, to finger under my normal work gloves to reduce the vibration my hands are exposed to once I am back at work. I will update on progress and recovery in due course ..... unless you all tell me to stop being boring that is.

Morning all, Taking it easy for next 4 weeks. Had my hand surgery yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised when the surgeon said I can probably use a chainsaw in 4 weeks time, resume climbing at six weeks. I experienced IV Fentanyl given to me pre anaesthetic, sure does make you float, but then they put me under before I could enjoy the experience! Oh well, just a codeine junkie for the first few days post op. Lovely blue sky here, very frosty, so won't venture out and risk falling onto poorly hand🙈 Have a good day all.

Forgot to log on this morning, greetings all. I am up and off early tomorrow for my Dupuytren's hand surgery. Will start a thread on this, as this is a common hand problem in our line of work.

Morning all

Good aftermorning all

Sums it up in my view. For 20 years I have split my own logs, let them air dry in an open barn, then move a couple of cubes at a time into the attached garage. never had logs go mouldy. I burn about 30 cu metres a year between our stoves and the biomass boiler.

Morning all, Dry weather again!! Off to recce Monday's job, maybe do a bit of it myself today if it looks like a long day for Monday. Carpe diem