Name: Stan Schewe
Email address: tgagolf@swbell.net
Adult: 64 years old
City, State: St. Charles, Missouri
Area(s) affected: Left hand – pinky finger the worst, next two fingers starting to bother me, knot also above left wrist. Have large calcium deposits on left shoulder blade and under left arm.
Personal History:
(ages are approximates):
Age 31 – Had lumps (calcium deposits) removed from left shoulder blade and under left arm by Dr. Leo Whiteside at DePaul Hospital. No diagnosis other than calcium deposits. Needed therapy to regain use of left arm.
Age 44 – Had X-rays of left hand due to a knot on right side of top joint on the pinky finger and left wrist due to a knot there. Nothing was done although melorheostosis was mentioned in the lab report. That was never explained nor did I notice it until I just reread the report when creating this. Pinky finger was bothering my golf swing.
Age 50 - Had knot removed from left pinky finger (since joint was frozen) by Dr. Subbarao Polineni at DePaul Hospital. Had lots of therapy to regain joint motion but was unsuccessful.
Age 57 – Went to Dr. Charles Goldfarb (Washington University Orthopedic) since knot had returned on left pinky finger. I couldn’t grip with that finger. He diagnosed melorheostosis, which was the first time I remember hearing of the disease. He said there was no cure and surgery would not help but could make it worse. Calcium deposits also returned to left shoulder blade and under left arm.
Age 63 – Went to Michael Whyte (Washington University School of Medicine) since left hand was getting worse. Tried a zometa treatment. No real change.
Age 64 – Tried a second zometa treatment. Still no change.
Current Status:
Left pinky finger is still useless with top joint frozen. Next two fingers are getting stiff in the top joint. I retired end of April 2015 (a year early) with the hope of playing lots of golf. It’s becoming hard to grip the club with my left hand. I also have a hard time making a fist with the left hand. Holding small objects in that hand (like pills) is virtually impossible. I use Hydrocodon to minimize the discomfort only when playing golf. However the left hand hurts all the time and the right hand is starting to bother me. Playing golf two days in a row is tough because the hand gets weak the second day. It will be a short retirement golfing at this rate.