As far as I know, I've never had any injuries to my wrists. In the beginning of June 2002, I was taking care of my 85-year-old mother for two weeks, while my sister, her primary caregiver was on vacation. During her visit with me, Mom fell and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks with a fractured hip. Due to my mother's Alzheimer's, I stayed at the hospital and during this time my hand was bent, hit and twisted by my mother as I tried to assist in her care.

The first incident of pain I had was a stabbing pain in my wrist that I can best compare as a really, really bad stubbed toe. If I bumped my hand, or pulled the thumb away from the rest of the hand, it hurt intensely for a couple of minutes, brought tears to my eyes, and then the pain subsided and went away. I figured something was wrong, but was dealing with my mother's injuries so did not worry about it too much. It did concern me that during the hospital stay I tried to start my car and found it impossible to turn the key with my right hand.

In mid-June, my mother was discharged from the hospital and moved to my home. My wrist still bothered me - but mainly if I bumped it or used it to help move my mother. I started using my left hand more in doing things such as the can opener or opening jars. I noticed that at night my wrist would bother me more with pain ranging from about 0-3 during the night.

I made an appointment to see my family doctor the end of June but canceled the appointment as I felt like my hand was getting better. It still hurt sometimes - but not as often - and maybe not as sharp a pain. (denial??) Mid-July we took my mother back to her home. I stayed there 10 days to help out.

By the end of July my husband was having problems with his back. He made appointments for both of us to see our family doctor. By the time I had this appointment with my doctor I had lost a lot of ROM and strength in my hand. My family doctor was concerned and thought I had possibly fractured the scaphoid. I was sent to get a CT on the 19th of August.

I was very appreciative of the radiologist I had. He must have been alerted by something he saw in the CT (like a dead lunate??) and he asked if I would mind letting them do an MRI for free and it would just be a few minutes. After a few minutes in the MRI, he said that it was going to take a lot longer and that yep, they would be charging for the MRI.

Once I was done, I asked the radiologist if he could give me a hint as to what was wrong with my wrist. I was told I had Kienböck's Disease and was shown my MRI with the dark lunate bone. The radiologist also showed me an example in a medical book. Later that night I had time to look up Kienböck's on the Internet. The words "No Cure," were definitely an attention getter. My husband found me crying at the computer as I tried to sort through all the information I could find.

Three days after my MRI and being diagnosed, I ended up seeing a doctor who did not specialize in hands and planned on casting me. This appointment was made by my family physician. I think he felt that I should be casted until I could see a hand surgeon. I was thankful that I had found the KD website and had read up on Kienböck's enough to at least think I knew what I wanted. I had read about casting and did not feel it would help me, plus.....I knew I had been sent to a doctor who had no clue on the treatment for KD!

First week of September I had an appointment with a hand surgeon. He seemed like a good doctor but I was concerned whether he had any experience with KD. He suggested doing an RS. I asked about a VBG - but was told he would rather not open up the wrist.

Third week of September I had an appointment with a second hand surgeon. I was very happy with this doctor. He has experience with KD. I was stage 2 with a fracture in my lunate and the doctor told me I had only about a 1 mm negative ulna variance so therefore he would perform a capitate shortening - and a VBG (the doctor also took the tip off my hamate during surgery). I had lost a lot of ROM but my pain (ache) was minimal (0-3). It ached more with use, even with little things like typing, and doing the dishes. I tried not to use my right hand and wore a brace most of the time. I took Naproxen Sodium for the swelling and pain.

I had surgery October 24, 2002. Everything went well. I had requested an axillary block and was awake during a lot of the surgery. This is not the norm, but I was excited about being awake and being able to hear what was going on in the operating room. At one point I asked my doctor if I could watch. Of course he didn't let me and I'm sure that was a wise idea; maybe it was the lala medicine that made me think I could watch! My surgery lasted about 2 ½ hours. I was in the recovery room for about an hour and within a few hours after surgery I was on my way home. Once we got to our town I was even able to walk into the drug store to get my prescription for pain meds filled.

I had a surgical cast on for 10 days, and then I had a regular cast for four weeks. Once the cast was off, I wore a splint constantly for a month and then weaned off of it the next month. I had a problem with getting my ring and pinkie fingers to move so had therapy for those starting about 10 days post-op. Once I was out of the cast at 6 weeks I started therapy for my wrist. I had therapy for at least two months. I got tendonitis during my recovery period and that pain was as bad as my pre-surgery KD pain. It was about 10 months after surgery before I could honestly tell people my wrist felt good.

It has been almost five years now since my surgery. My wrist is fairly normal. I have about 75% of the strength I had before and about 60% of the ROM. I can do pretty much whatever I want. My wrist aches when I do certain repetitive jobs, such as pulling weeds or painting but the ache goes away with a little rest. I feel my wrist moves better if I keep it warm when the weather is chilly. I am very glad I had this surgery and I feel fortunate that I had a knowledgeable doctor.

I credit part of my good outcome to the fact that I met and listened to some really compassionate and knowledgeable members of the Yahoo Kienbock Disease Support Group. It was so nice to have people respond to my concerns and know that I wasn't alone during this time. So....thank you to everyone in the group who helped me and especially to Shannon, Phyllis, and Keith.