Advanced arthritis in Linda Holland’s left thumb was a disability, and a painful one. “You can’t imagine the things you can’t do without a thumb,” she said. Dr. Thomas Trumble at Harborview Medical Center performed surgery, removing parts of the arthritic bone where cartilage had worn away, and inserting a biological cartilage graft to cushion the bone-contact point. Some patients, Trumble said, are better suited to synthetic spacers. Holland, now pain-free, calls Trumble a “miracle worker.”