I went to see a hand surgeon about my quickly progressing boutonniere deformity. He thinks he can help me, even if he has to fuse the joints. It looks like a pretty gory surgery (as all hand surgeries do), and they do it with a local anesthesia. I'm hoping to have the surgery mid-September, but the nurses are telling me that the docs are on vacation and they are waiting for a "surgery order" before they can schedule me.

Since I've only been on ibuprofen lately, and they don't allow any NSAIDs for a week prior to surgery, I went ahead and asked my RA doc for short term (low dose) Prednisone. I always said I'd never go on THAT again, but I've only been on it (5 mg) for a few days and I can already tell that it is helping me. I just don't want to be in agony for the week prior to the surgery.

This is a pretty big deal for me. I'll be off work for a good chunk of time, although hope to work from home as soon as possible. I know a few people here have had hand surgery for RA. Just curious if any of them was for boutonniere deformity.