My friend, Charlie, and I hiked the Summit Trail on Piestewa Peak this morning. It was warm (high eighties) when we started just before sunrise (5:27 AM). Thankfully, the humidity was low which meant that evaporating sweat worked well at cooling. There was a pretty good breeze from the .75 mile marker to the top which also helped. All in all it was a good hike. The moon, just past full, was high in the western sky and many of the clouds were tinged with pink. Scenic, it was. Our conversation turned to what our plans were for the coming week. For my part I have a brake job (for my automobile) and a visit to the doctor.
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The visit to the doctor is mostly about my hands. One the one hand (left) I have arthritis with some bone on bone rubbing going on. The pain is at this point pretty minimal and I still have almost complete function. At my age such things are pretty normal. On the other hand (right) I have Dupuytren’s disease. This is actually a pretty cool (read interesting) disease. For one thing it is incurable. For another thing it won’t kill me. Also, it isn’t painful. I found out that I had Dupuytren’s last year when I was having neck problems. As part of the investigation I was sent to a neurologist. The neurologist tested the nerve pathways in my arms, hand and fingers. His diagnosis was that the lack of feeling in my fingers was due to some minor carpal tunnel syndrome. The carpal tunnel syndrome’s root cause is heredity and mine merely causes some numbness in my pointing finger. So, no big deal. I also happened to show him the interesting bumps in my right palm (which had appeared in the previous year and in my right hand only). He knew instantly what the cause was: Dupuytren’s disease which is also mostly inherited.
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Not only does it have a cool, hard to pronounce (say “doo-pwee-TRAHZ”), French name, it is also known as the Vikings disease. Usually the disease progresses slowly. However in the last year I have become aware that I can no longer place my palm flat on a table top (this is known as failing the table test). Time to talk to a doctor, I think. And that is what I told Charlie. From there our conversation went on to how a hundred years ago medicine and treatments were very different. Two hundred years ago there wasn’t even a name for Dupuytren’s disease. Guillaume Dupuytren only described it in 1831. Two hundred or even one hundred years ago I would have eventually lost the full use of my right hand – because Dupuytren’s usually progresses to the point where the fingers curl into the palm. And that would have been the least of my problems. The arthritis in my left hand (and neck) would have left me immobile and in pain. It is hard to earn a living in that condition, especially in occupations that required a lot of heavy physical effort which most did. Money would have been another issue. There was no social security, few pension plans and leisure only for the wealthy.
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Bottom line? A hundred years ago I would have been dependant on my family to feed and care for me – if I was still alive. In any case my life would have been very different from the one I lead now. I have a feeling that I would not have been enjoying the sunrise after hiking a 2600 foot peak even if the peak wasn’t in the middle of a desert and the month July. The thing is that today I can enjoy my life. Without modern medicine (and social benefits) it would be not nearly as enjoyable. Did I mention that, a hundred years ago I would not have been able to view a sunrise the same as I can today? I had cataract surgery four years ago and one of the benefits of that surgery (besides being able to see) was that colors became brighter. I should have missed sunrises like the one this morning and this one taken last month:
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