Last post Fri, Oct 03 2008 10:00 PM by ForrestG. 43 replies.
I recently had little finger amputated and have lost use of most of hand after a surgery then went bad in 2005.
Have a Metronic stimulator in right upper chest and right arm.
Has anyone else ever had this and how do you cope.
Hi Drop welcome! I have no experience in this area but there are probably other's who do. Some times it takes a while for people to wake up, do their thing, then get on here. Be patient I'm sure you'll get responses. Best of Luck, this is a great site.
hello, my husband recently lost more than half of his ring finger and down to the first knuckle on his middle finger at work on a table saw, he has done this work all his life. This happened to his right hand and yes, he is right handed. I am being as supportive as I can be, but is there anything else i should know. PLEASE HELP !
hi drop, sorry to hear about what happened to you, and theresa what happened to your husband. i lost my leg so i can relate somewhat. i wish the best for both of you and your husband. i guess we learn to do things in a different way but it can be done, with new injuries it takes time but he will find a way. your support theresa is a great thing for him and you are helping him more than you know. it's nice to meet the both of you and welcome to disaboom.
My fiance just had his index finger, past the joint, amputated last Friday. This has been a long process for him. He was injured July 9, 2007. His amputation was his fifth surgery. He talks about phantom feelings a lot. I have been to every doctors appointment and every surgery. Please advise me on how to be more supportive. I am not sure if it is the medications or the injury, but his mood has surely declined in the past eight months.
Thanks,
Sasha
Finger amputation is fairly common but finger amputees are a relatively rare breed on amputee sites. I am in a similar situation; I am a bilat TMA (no toes either foot) and have only talked with one other TMA in the past 4 years so I can unstand the frustration. I would make 2 suggestions: 1) join a local amputee support group. Much of the frustration and uncertainty is common to all types of amputations and amputees so talking with another or other amps can alleviate many of those concerns. 2) even if you join a local amp support group, I would contact the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) (website - http://www.amputee-coalition.org/index.html). They have/sponsor a support group but also provide a service called peer visitation. Both amputees and family members can request a visit. ACA will attempt to match the requester up with an amputee of a similar age, gender, and type of amputation. There is no charge; peer visitors are all volunteers. Visits can be in person, over the phone, or by computer - the requester has the choice although limited numbers of peer visitors may make phone or email more realistic.
I mentioned that finger amps are relatively common. There is a man at a local fitness center who is bilateral having lost both little fingers and about half of the 4th finger on both hands. In the Pacific Northwest (OR, WA, ID and MT), many who worked in sawmills, cedar mills, or split/made cedar shingles and shakes are finger amps. Despite the amputations (most of which are traumatic), the vast majority of those people are success and lead full and productive lives. There is currently a program on the History Channel called "Ax Men" which is about loggers in NW OR. The owner of one of the logging companies in the program is a hand amp having lost most of his fingers when they were pulled through a block. Not only does he own the company, he runs heavy equipment and falls timber with a chain saw. He built his own prosthetic which he uses to help hold the saw.
Dealing with amputation, whether a finger or leg, is a lot about acceptance and attitude. The sooner one accepts the amputation and moves on, the easier dealing with it becomes. But it is important to remember that dealing with an amputation is much like dealing with a death. There is a grieving process, in fact, it is the same process. Each of us grieves differently so there is no pat answer as to how or for how long. Some go through the process relatively quickly; others, much more slowly. It helps to have someone to talk to and who will listen. Unfortunately, non-amps can't really understand what an amp is feeling or going through so there may be issues and problems that arise. But a good listener is worth their weight in gold because often just having someone to listen to us helps to make things easier to deal with.
Amps do have self-imagine issues. Having someone support them and let them know that they (the amp) is still the same person can make a big difference in an amp's ability to deal with their amputation and their own self image. On the plus side, just because someone is an amputee doesn't mean that they can't live a normal life and do normal things. Amps climb mountains, ski, snowboard, drive and ride motorcycles, race cars, etc. Attitude and support makes those things happen.
John
Very insightful post John. I recently lost my right little finger and now have a stump just past the knucle (3/4 of the proximal phalanx residual). I have been finding it hard to cope with as I am a pianist and still very young, but have now come to terms with it. Other than the piano theres the grip aspect that the little finger provides for playing tennis etc but this "man at a local fitness center who is bilateral having lost both little fingers and about half of the 4th finger on both hands" you speak of sounds interesting, how much does it affect him? Whats his attitude? Also theres the asethetic impact it can have on life, meeting new people etc. Does anyone wear or know much about prosthetics for fingers? I researched the X-finger on the internet and it looks pretty cool and potentially good for piano playing, but does costs $10,000! Also Troy Bayliss a professional motorcyclist lost his left little finger in an accident and appartently it doesnt affect his riding.
Hi,
I just wanted you to know that being without a couple of fingers is not the easy thing to get used to.
I lost my ring finger and half my of my middle finger to what they call Burgers Disease. It come from smoking and if they wouldn't have amputated those fingers, they said I could lose my hand. I have fathom pain and BTW. yes, I stopped smoking.
Just when you feel you have pain in your hand where the fingers are, do what I do. I rub them just like they are there. There is no medicine that will cure that for its mostly mental. They were cut off over 7 years ago and I still fell like I have them. It was hard to learn to type but you can do it. See, I am doing it now. :)
About getting a fake fingers I looked into that and it would have cost me over $6,000 and that was just for looks. You can't use them it all there just for looks. It was a total waste of money.
I wish you all the luck and let me know if I can help you anymore.
I have not talked with the guy but I see him quite regularly. From his posture etc., he seems to have adapted quite well. He uses the ellipticals, the ATM machine, rowing machine primarily but none of that seems to be affected by his lack of fingers. I have noticed with other finger amps I have come across over the years that they have generally adapted to the loss of the fingers. Some things are obviously more difficult or perhaps impossible - I am trying to imagine how to adapt playing a violin or other musical instrument that requires 5 fingers. Social situations don't seem to bother them although it seems to drive the rest of us a bit batty. I have noticed that amps who are comfortable with who they are (have accepted their amputations and moved on), have few or no worries about things which really helps others to move beyond the amputation. But then out here, and especially in small rural communites in timber country, finger amps are really common so people grow up with them and are quite used to seeing them. For many, it is no more unusual than someone wearing glasses.
Finger amputations are probably the most obvious amputations because, short of wearing a glove or mittens, they are always obvious. Getting a positive attitude when you have to deal with this obvious difference is difficult as we all know. I don't know if I was lucky, am unique or what, but I almost immediately accepted my amputation and moved on. I think this was in part due to the fact that if I didn't, I wouldn't make the changes to make in my lifestyle (being diagnosed as diabetic at the same time more or less forced the issue). Unless you know me, my amputations are not obvious; I'm just one more joe walking down the street using a cane or walking stick.
I have never seen any literature or information on prosthetics for single finger or less than full hand amputations. I suspect it may be due to issues associated with keeping the device attached to the residual limb. It may also be that the loss of partial fingers or less than all fingers is generally adaptable for most. I saw an article not too long ago about a man whose surgeon suggested replacing his lost fingers with toes (never heard of fingers being used to replace toes however!). There was an article in the local paper a couple of weeks ago talking about the current state of prosthetics and had a discussion on replacement hands/fingers. Some impressive technology but again it was a full hand and all five fingers.
My experience suggests that those of us missing fingers or toes are at the end of the food chain when it comes to prosthetic devices. Shortly after my amputation of the toes on my right foot, I saw an article reporting the discovery of a big toe prosthetic from Egypt dating back to the days of the pharoghs. Technology, at least what little I have seen, hasn't changed in a couple thousand years. The newspaper article I read had absolutely nothing on prosthetics for TMAs - legs, arms and increasing hands are getting a lot of press and tech advancements.
Costs are high regardless. Legs are running $30-50 thousand or more for higher end ones. But even someone like myself pays through the nose. I have a pair of what are essentially custom made Dr. Scholls - the only real difference is a toe filler when my toes would normally be. Here, they run about $1600 per pair and at least the thinner ones need to be replaced yearly if not sooner. I am only half joking when I talk about my $2000 pair of shoes (and I have to modify every pair of shoes to the tune of approximately $150/pair).
Don't give up. Keep trying and adapting. You'll find out that you can do a lot more than you think and you will probably find very innovative ways to compensate for the loss of that portion of the finger. And keep in mind that you've only lost a portion of your finger. Your mind, personality, and the rest of who you are is essentially intact, functioning, and ready to go.
Later.
John I have to say youve hit the nail on the head, my hand surgeon said almost exactly the same things as you! Retrospective regret is pointless and attidude and adaptation are key, and to be phillisohpically cliche life does go on regardless. I know I've only lost a little finger (or most of) and there are alot of people who have lost alot more but it has given me a new found respect for life and how you really dont know whats around the corner so you should live to your full potential. I've been playing the piano recently and reaching an octave in my right hand has become very hard but alot of it can just involve changing the fingering, and my guitar playing is practically unaffected.
In terms of the singular prosthesis, as I mentioned in my last post the X-finger (search it on google) form Didrick Medical, looks pretty remarkable, completely powered by the residual limb/stump and costing less than double ($10,000) the static prosthesis' (about $6000) even though they provide functional grip (he grips a golf club in the demo) and he also types with it. Also "The finger, however, is only the beginning. Didrick is already working on an entire hand articulated in similar fashion using the wrist, and has been approached to craft toes using the same principle" although toes are obvioulsy more about support and balance than dexterity and articulation, so probably not worth the extortionate price. But most importantly theres no external power source, you power it, and its easy to remove/replace with the opposing hand yet doesnt fall off with ease, however it doesnt look as realistic as the static/artistic silicone variety. Guido
Hi Dropsit, no personal experience to share, but I run a disabled group called Rovers on a site called Ravelry (Rovers is a fiber insider joke, sheep give rovings from which yarn is spun) Any way, I've had to contact some occupational therapists for ideas on how to knit or chrochet one-handed to help some of the members, and it seems table-top clamping mechanisms help with lots of every day tasks that usually take two full hands. I think the best one I saw for things taking fine motor control was a lot like the gizmo my Dad used to tie flies for fishing. I have a friend who lost most of the feeling in her hands. As a woodcarver, this was a huge blow to her. She now clamps the wood into a table top clamp, and carves with a dremel, I think she calls it.
I hope this is of some help,
Diana
I had a stroke in 2005. I could not move my right hand; no feeling. Again, I which off foe the LEFT hand.
I feel frustrating; I really make a mess with the kitchen.
Hi Sasha, my wife lost her index finger on her right hand and was very conscience of people looking at it so she had a cosmetic finger made and no one can tell. I told her not to worry about it because I was O.K. with it but she is a banker and her hands were always beautifully manicured so it meant a lot to her. When I find it laying on the toaster or the sink I remind her lol... It just takes time to prosess all the emotions and learn that the people who care about her don't care about the missing finger. As far as phantom sensation you have to touch the end of the finger when that happens so the brain will prosess that that is where it ends and they will go away.Usually takes about two months.
hello i am a mother of my son lucio who lost his three fingers on his left hand due to a firework explosion i just am looking for some type of help for him so he can get some pysical therapy or any where we can go to see artificial limbs extension for his thumb i heard that he can do alot more if he had a extension for his thumb is this expensive?? we live in california central
Actually there is a newer Medication out there named Lyrica, which does wonders for fathom pain.
