My old friends and teammates will remember my notorious feet with toes so crooked I could hang upside down by them. Back in high school in Sterling, Illinois my podiatrist, Doctor Heffelfinger, gave me my first foot orthoses. He also showed me how to tape each toe to prevent blisters from forming between my phalanges when playing basketball.
Forty years later, I am still doctoring my crazy feet. Dr. Drevo, my podiatrist in Geneva Switzerland, hand crafted custom-made foot orthotics to help my balance, relieve back pain and slow the progression of Ledderhose Disease. Ledderhose disease (also known as Morbus Ledderhose or plantar fibromatosis) causes nodules to develop in the arches of my feet, which can become painful or grow to a size where they affect walking.
Not surprisingly, my foot doctor also diagnosed Dupuytren’s Contracture, which is similar, because the same type of cords and nodules formed in my hands.
Ledderhose and Dupuytren’s Contracture, known as the Viking Diseases, target the fascia. According to International Dupuytren Society.
"Dupuytren's Contracture is a chronic, progressive fibroproliferative disorder affecting the palmar fascia, leading to permanent flexion deformities of the fingers.”
Typically the ring and pinky finger become permanently locked in bent position.
The condition is more common in Northern European countries where the Vikings settled (hence its nickname.) Typically there, it afflicts about 30% of men over the age of 60 and seems to run in families.
As the daughter of a Norwegian mom and Scottish dad ancestry, I am genetically 89% Scandinavian and Northern European. Key genetic risk factors for Dupuytren's crippling hand disorder can be traced back to Neanderthals’ DNA.
Over the past few years, thanks to Dr. Drevo, my foot condition is under control, but the collagen overgrowth went wild, especially in my left hand.
Only 5% of patients with Dupuytren contractures have similar lesions in the medial plantar fascia of the feet. Lucky me!
At my podiatrist’s appointment in May, I showed Dr. Drevo my bent fingers and crippled hand. He recognized the cords of fibrous tissue puckering under the skin of the palm as Dupuytren’s Contracture and urged me to follow up with a hand specialist right away.
At the Hand Clinic of Geneva, I met Dr. Vakalopoulos who asked, “Would you prefer I speak French, English, Dutch or Greek?”
When he described the complex dissection required to prevent digital nerve injury, it helped that he spoke English. He drew lines across my left hand and explained that he would cut into my palm to remove the chords in my palm and pinky. Unfortunately, my disease had advance too far for him to perform a simpler needle aponevrotomy.
The day after surgery, he confirmed with relief that I retained the sensation in my fingertips.
“The surgery was more difficult than I anticipated,” he said. “You have an aggressive form of 
Dupuytren’s and the collagen had formed spirals around the nerves in the finger joint.”
Dr. V removed the fast growing collagen forming tough bands in the connective tissue of my hand. Two weeks later, in my follow up appointment, after the nurse removed my bandages, Dr. V inspected his delicate artwork. Fifty-eight stitches zig zagged across my palm and pinky.
“That scar would make a great jigsaw puzzle,” my brother-in-law kidded when he saw a photo of my hand.
On the bright side, I retain bragging rights in my extended Olson, McKinzie, Lechault, Carlson, Miles, Westphal, Zhang family. I hold the record for the most stitches. It will be hard to beat!
Never to be discouraged, I wear my scar like a badge of courage. I show off my left hand as a visual reminder of my proud heritage.
After all, I am a Golden Warrior Viking.
