# Intentionally getting one's hand cut open (surgery, and the results)



## Explorer (Oct 9, 2011)

Okay, so I've had some hand problems over the years, but recently they kicked into overdrive. I could barely type at work, and that night I couldn't play.

So, I made an appointment, had a consultation, and then went under the knife (not all the same day).

I've been typing with one hand, and last night tried something simple on guitar. Ouch! No go!

The operation on my left hand was on Wednesday. I hate painkillers, since I can't think as clearly, so I'm currently off them (maybe a mistake). 

I know that however long it takes for my left hand to be workable, it will take just as long for the right hand (to be operated on once the left is strong enough for, say, wiping my ass, cooking and eating). 

I think I have to buy a harmonica....


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## pawel (Oct 9, 2011)

<lurk mode = off>

It's not quite the same, but I fractured both joints of my left hand pinky and index finger in May, had surgery, metal wires inserted in my fingers for 6 weeks, 6 weeks of splint, and physio since then. I still can't fully make a fist with the left hand, but started playing again and would say I managed to get back to around 75%-80% of my (limited) ability, and see improvement almost daily now. 

So, all this is a roundabout way of saying that you'll get playing again - you may need to adjust your style/position/setup etc. but you'll get back to it. In the meantime there is also slide guitar/lap steel 

<lurk mode=on>


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## Insightibanez (Oct 9, 2011)

I can understand where your coming from. I recently cracked some bones in my right hand and bent my knuckle 45 degrees down. Its not as bad as it sounds. The doctors wanted to drill into my hand and skewer my bones togeather but I made the choice on letting it heal on its own and see what happens.
For the first week I took some painkillers (which I don't like to do) but the pain was too much plus I had to work.
Its been about 4 weeks now and its as good as new. Yeah, my knuckle looks funny when I make a fist but I did save myself a few thousand dollars in medical bills, and some time recovering.

I wish you a safe and fast recovery.


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## skeels (Oct 9, 2011)

Dude, that sucks big time. I totally sympathize with you. Last year, I had some nerve damage in my right arm and was afraid I wasn't going to be able play anymore. Hang in there. Stay optimistic and not negative. Nothing will jack your own ability to heal yourself like being down in the dumps. I sincerely hope everything goes good with your hands. Take care of yourself and if you find yourself bummin' reach out and somebody will be there to help you get your head together.


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## Alberto7 (Oct 9, 2011)

Ouch... That's literally one of the things I fear the most; my hands not being fully functional. 
The only time that one of my hands became useless, was when I fractured my forearm's bone right behind the wrist. The bones, very fortunately, stayed in place, and the recovery was relatively fast and without a lot of pain. But the 3 weeks I did spend with a cast on my right arm were pretty terrible. 
It might be nothing compared to other people's experiences (and yours), but it had a big enough impact on me that it made me realize how much worse it could have been.

Here's hoping the best for your health and for you to be able to work/play/use your hands again!


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## The Reverend (Oct 9, 2011)

Oh wow, I had no idea all this stuff was going on with you, brother. If you don't mind, what exactly was the problem that needed fixing? Hands are in many ways the most important part of our bodies, it sucks that yours will be sorta shitty for a while.

I'm sure you'll heal up just fine, though. You're one of the healthiest people I've ever talked to!


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## ElRay (Oct 9, 2011)

Ouch man. Carpal Tunnel, Cubital Tunnel or something else?

Ray


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## GalacticDeath (Oct 9, 2011)

I hope your hand heals up soon dude. I'm sure you'll be able to do all the things you used to. You'll probably be shreddin in no time, just gotta give yourself time to heal. Let us know how your progress is going


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## Explorer (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks, folks!

As to the cause... it's one of those mixed blessings. I put away calcium like nobody's business, so breaks and such are never a problem, and normally just a matter of 2 or 3 weeks. 

However... the downside is that I get calcium deposits and nodules, and thickening of tendons and other skeletal/joint tissues.

So, the tendons of my fingers thickened. Each one slides through a sheath at the base of that finger where it joins the palm. They had thickened to where it hurt to close my hands, and then if I went too far, the thickened part was through the sheath and unable to slide back up, locking the fingers in. I'd have to release it with either the other hand or with a convenient edge (table top, doorway, etc.). Sucks when you're in the gym and you can't release a free weight, or when you're carrying groceries or a guitar case and a bag and can't let go. *laugh*

So I spent some years trying to get by without taking in more than a certain amount of calcium, but it made me deficient in other ways. After I had other problems, I said, fuck this, and went back to the diet I had had for years. The calcium levels built up again, but at least I wasn't having iron problems or other issues.

(Warning: graphic content from here)

Recently, though, one of my fingers suddenly hurt much more. I scheduled a consultation, and surgery. The surgeon suspected that she'd find something different, and she did, as the tendon of that finger had a new nodule which was ripping the sheath up from the inside, in addition to locking.

I did a lot of research before I went to the consultation, and the main surgical procedure is to release the tendon... by cutting the sheath open. That means I don't have that sheath guiding each individual tendon. I couldn't find much on the long term effects of this, but since I couldn't use my hands in a normal way, I imagine that I'll burn that bridge when I come to it (if there are problems to come, which I don't know).

I just took off the dressings today, and although I'll not be posting a picture (I think the rules here forbid graphic content), it's not as bad as it could be. The incisions for each finger look clean, and the area is just itchy without being painful.

(End graphic content)

On the plus side, I have great health insurance. I work at a place where, although it's budgeting time, our CFO told me that in a year's time, I'll probably feel glad that I took it easy, and that would be preferable to them than my getting in my budget on time. 

Also, my resistance/quick metabolizing of painkillers and anaesthesia is still there. I thought it might slow down as I got older, but I could feel the stitches going in and the thread pulling through, so it took me roughly 17 minutes to burn through the stuff they put in to keep you numb for a few hours. The oxycodone was pretty much useless too except for making me slightly less alert, so the doctor allowed me to discontinue it after one day. 

I had them fax in a note to my workplace, so that I have many sets of eyes on me to prevent me from lifting more than 5 pounds with the bandaged hand. (Sometimes it's hard to follow limits.) 

And, the best part? I'm hoping to get the other hand done in a few weeks, so I will be babying this one so as not to f' it up, and to thereby get the surgeon's trust so that we can get the other hand out of the way. 

So, another few weeks, some more surgery, and then I can pick up some basic books of guitar exercises and learn some skills from the ground up while using them as my form of hand therapy and rehabilitation. Now is the time and the opportunity to really work some core skills, and to work on truly perfect form. It will be like learning Tai Chi Chuan, slow movement and perfection of technique built up before moving onto doing those movements and techniques at speed. 

Wow, this took some time to do with one hand. I need to take a break.

Anyway, thanks for all the good wishes.


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## Ancestor (Oct 9, 2011)

Explorer said:


> Wow, this took some time to do with one hand. I need to take a break.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for all the good wishes.



ha, i forgot you were typing with one hand until you reminded me at the end!

i hope you feel better soon, man. i know that's a huge annoyance.


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## SirMyghin (Oct 9, 2011)

Get well dude. 

Interesting tidbit I got is your resistance to pain meds, like you Oxys don't do much for me, just take the edge off, and make me smile (I would say a little more, but smile at all is more realistic), otherwise I am fully functioning, even on other opiates/morphine. It sucks in the sense that you are stuck with whatever you got either way, consequently I haven't taken a real pain med in years for any issues, as it doesn't do much more anyway. It has slowed a tiny bit in that I can get a touch more out on the really rough days, but I am unstoppable regardless.


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## ElRay (Oct 10, 2011)

Take it easy. I know how tough it can be to baby an injury. 

Ray


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## poopyalligator (Oct 10, 2011)

I am sorry man I hope you get better soon. I am in the same boat as you in some ways. I broke my humerus about 2 months ago, and I have been typing with one hand for a while now. Like you the pain meds were giving me really messed up dreams and I decided not to take them anymore. I would get up very abruptly at 3am only to realize that my arm was still very broken. I took them for the first three days, and then for 1 day after they re-broke my arm. You will become a pro at using only one hand to type. I have been using my non dominant hand for everything now, and it has become crazy steady. Hope you heal up quickly.


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## Explorer (Oct 10, 2011)

poopyalligator said:


> I would get up very abruptly at 3am only to realize that my arm was still very broken. I took them for the first three days, and then for 1 day after they re-broke my arm.



Only because I know what you mean , but... hahahahaha!

This morning a committee/coalition of my coworkers, led by my HR director and my boss, walked over to my desk and tossed me out of the office. They were very nice about it, but had already seen me push things a bit more than I should have in the 45 minutes I was there and didn't want me to hurt myself. I can't play music, have watched more movies than I had in the six months leading up to this, and am dying for intellectual stimulation.

Maybe I'll put on some music and do the lyrical equivalent to writing a contrafact....


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## Duelbart (Oct 10, 2011)

I can't say I know what you're going through, but after having suffered(and still slightly suffering) from tendonitis, I very much feel for you for having "broken" hands. I can't imagine what life would look like without being able to use my hands properly...


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## ElRay (Oct 10, 2011)

Get a book on "free righthand", aka fingerpicking playing, tune a guitar to an open chord/scale and work-on that right-hand technique.

Then, when you get the next surgery, start re-introducing your left hand the the guitar by playing it like a touchstyle. 



Ray


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## Explorer (Oct 10, 2011)

I wound up watching a movie, listening to the music, and then pulling out certain sections of the music which I thought would lead to a coherent song. I sang lyrics into the little recorder I normally use at work for capturing music, then edited lyrics on paper alongside a rhyming dictionary (my favorite method of writing lyrics, although I sometimes use WikiRhymer as it's more versatile than my paper rhyming dictionaries). 

I now have the nucleus of a few songs, which is pretty neat considering I got to watch a movie at the same time. 

So... do I now watch "Hobo with a Shotgun" to cleanse the palate? *laugh*


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## Explorer (Oct 14, 2011)

So, I'm obviously up late (my sleep schedule is going to suck big time when I try to get back in synch for work). But, for those who have asked, here's where things are:

Had a follow-up with the surgeon today:

"Wow, things look good! Stitches out? Ummmmmm... yeah, not just yet. Let's take a loot at it next week. Yeah, that's still really swollen. No, I suspect that pushing strings down to the fretboard is probably not a good idea yet. No, even if you're running extremely light string tension, it's probably a good idea to hold off. (I'm not kidding about her saying that one.) Yeah, why don't you take it easy this weekend? Okay, I'll see you next week!"

I know it's only been a week and a day, but I was hoping it would take absolutely no time to not only be where I was, but even better. Maybe I was being unrealistic. *laugh*

Anyway, no infection, no nerve damage from having things pulled/pushed/moved out of the way to get to what needed to be done, balanced out by the fact that I can't even generate a quarter pound of force with the fingers which were affected....


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## synrgy (Oct 14, 2011)

Thanks for sharing your experience(s). I have a major issue in my left hand that I've been putting off for years. Gonna go see somebody about it soon, but I'm terrified about what they may end up telling me/having to do to fix it.. 

Definitely keep us posted on your recovery. Here's hoping it's a speedy one! 

*edit* Also, definitely post vids of the harmonica.


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## Explorer (Oct 22, 2011)

Two weeks and a day after getting cut open:

I still can't completely straighten the middle two fingers of my left hand. 

My physical therapist emphasized that this is the time I have to work on regaining that flexibility, as well as making sure the scar tissue doesn't harden. So, I've been working on these tiny exercises which don't take much force, but which wind up hurting anyway. I've been hyperextending my middle fingers back as well as a passive stretch. 

My PT and surgeon have both pointed out that one can always build more strength, but flexibility is the place to focus.

And, with that in mind... they've forbidden me to play guitar for at least a month. 

A full month.

Starting that count this past Wednesday. 

A month without guitar. 

----

And, due to a few things brewing at work, I'm going to have to push back the right hand surgery until the beginning of December. Which means... I'll probably not be able to play guitar until some time in February. 

Ah, well. On the plus side, I'm *definitely* going to be getting some guitar books and working them from beginning to end. I figure now is as good a time as any, and probably better than most, to really develop nothing but good habits as I climb that mountain to get my hand strength up to where it should be. The idea that I'll be working the exercises due to not being physically able to do them, but can bring the perspective of over 30 years of playing to bear on learning even more efficient technique, fills me with excitement and anticipation.

Which will hopefully continue for at least three months, in order to sustain me. *laugh*


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## pawel (Oct 23, 2011)

That sounds tough, but it's good that you're thinking of it as an opportunity to learn/progress.

I imagine that it will be tough to read guitar books and not be able to apply any of it. Did you consider picking up a different instrument (keys for example), so you can apply any of the theory you might be reading up on? I found it quite difficult to not make any music/play anything, so when I had my downtime I got quite a bit into drum machines, soft synths etc, just to be able to make some sort of music...

Good luck with the therapy!


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## Explorer (Oct 23, 2011)

pawel said:


> That sounds tough, but it's good that you're thinking of it as an opportunity to learn/progress.
> 
> I imagine that it will be tough to read guitar books and not be able to apply any of it. Did you consider picking up a different instrument (keys for example), so you can apply any of the theory you might be reading up on? I found it quite difficult to not make any music/play anything, so when I had my downtime I got quite a bit into drum machines, soft synths etc, just to be able to make some sort of music...
> 
> Good luck with the therapy!



I've been considering working virtually (software and such), or taking the time to master augmented tuning on harmonica (a chromatic tuning with only three regular patterns for all keys, great for melodic jazz work). This is actually an excellent idea, as I keep meaning to order a custom from Seydel, but never really want to spend the sub-$100... but have just realized that I have no problem dropping that much for something guitar related.

That was a great suggestion. +1 to your reputation, friend!


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## AxeHappy (Oct 23, 2011)

That's fucking harsh as hell! If I go a week without playing guitar (very rare, as I teach guitar 4 days a week) I go into withdrawal. 

If you're looking for some books I'll heartily recommend , "Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar," by Troy Stetina. Whether you have an interest in playing mindless fast or not. The, "How to Practice," section is worth it alone and the exercise isolating your hands and their bringing them together are fantastic. And I could write a bunch more on how awesome it is, but you seem like quite the smart chap so I'm sure you'll come to conclusions on your own.


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## Explorer (Dec 11, 2011)

On-topic bump because... I had my other hand operated on!

So, I had a two-week window where I was allowed to play for five minutes a day, as long as I didn't do a lot of repetitive finger motion. *laugh* Still, I did some slow melodic work, and loved it.

(BTW, AxeHappy, thanks for the suggestion on the Stetina book. I think I'm going to pick up that, the three e-books from Guitarchitect ($30, what a bargain!), and that complete blues book from House of Blues which has gotten good reviews over time. I figure the blues stuff will break me in slowly, and then I'll work on speed as the months go by.)

And then, two weeks after my physical therapist affirmed I'd be able to carry groceries, I got the second hand operated on. 

I learned a bit from my last surgery, and was happy to apply those lessons to this hand.

I made sure the hand was always above my head. The last time, I had some swelling in the hand which delayed a few things, so I kept it high even while sleeping, with the bed moved to the corner and the pillows set up in such a way that I couldn't turn and remove my hand from the corner where it was propped/wedged. 

I worked the passive stretches more aggressively (whatever that means *laugh*). On the first hand, I would curl the fingers in using my other hand (I had absolutely no grip strength in the tendons which had been released and scraped), and then rest my elbow on the wall at ear level and press my chin on the fingers to be able to close the hand. My PT was surprised at how much flexibility I had the last time, as a lot of people don't tr to work things at all.

I also have been curling the fingers back, opening them to an extreme and using the other hand to bend them back slowly and then holding it. My finger joints hyperextend a bit normally, so I want to be sure I regain that flexibility. The left hand is back to normal, but it took a while, so I'm getting the jump on the process this time. 

I had learned what I tended to eat, so I got things of that nature which were easy to open and reheat with one hand. I did make the mistake of buying a whole box of satsuma oranges, the peeling of which has been... problematic. *laugh*

And, due to my musical frustration, I bought a Theremin. I suck majorly, and it turns out one does need ones fingers to get better control of the pitch when making small shifts. However, I do have an idea of how I'm going to tackle the instrument as time goes on, looking for practice exercises for trombone in order to start working intervals, figuring how how positions work, and so on. 

The weirdest thing so far? When the crazyglued part of the bandages peeled off, I didn't see any stitches. However, I did see a few things which looked like thick hairs growing out of my palm. They were like cat whiskers.

When I went back for the followup, I mentioned it to my surgeon, first bringing up the Cronenberg movie (her comment: "Oh, yeat, that was totally creepy!"), and then showing her my palm. "Oh, man, you're *right*!" *laugh*

"I was reading some current research on new procedures, and ran across some work using dissolvable thread and protein glues which are absorbed by the body. There's less scarring and no need for removal, but I couldn't find any references to such being used in the palm of the hand. I knew it was going to be different from what we did before, but you've been so open to everything to maximize the results that I made a last-minute decision to give it a try. Oh, and the whiskers are just the ends of the thread poking out, and I'll just trim those flush. What's left should dissolve in the next week or so."

(Incidentally, yet another instance where a world-wide conspiracy wasn't monitoring medical professionals at every level to prevent them from expanding knowledge. Yay, science! *laugh*)

Even though my new round of physical therapy doesn't start until Tuesday, I'm working the small exercises I got last time in the first session. I'm hoping that I'll be back up to snuff before the New Year... although that's probably pushing it. *laugh*

Oh! One more thing!

Since I can't hold weights above 10 lbs easily even in my left hand for more than 10 minutes, I picked up a pair of wrist weights which can go up to 20 lbs. each. I used to use this kind of weight when I would do weight work as aerobics, and so I'm doing a super set of 3 sets of 5 distinct exercises (10 reps) for each upper body muscle group, and then doing repeating each set until failure. I figure I don't want to fall behind by just watching TV, and I'll be able to make up the hand strength thing by doing the progressive Gripmaster program I used to do when I did free climbing. 

Life is good!


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## Explorer (Dec 11, 2011)

On-topic bump because... I had my other hand operated on!

So, I had a two-week window where I was allowed to play for five minutes a day, as long as I didn't do a lot of repetitive finger motion. *laugh* Still, I did some slow melodic work, and loved it.

(BTW, AxeHappy, thanks for the suggestion on the Stetina book. I think I'm going to pick up that, the three e-books from Guitarchitect ($30, what a bargain!), and that complete blues book from House of Blues which has gotten good reviews over time. I figure the blues stuff will break me in slowly, and then I'll work on speed as the months go by.)

And then, two weeks after my physical therapist affirmed I'd be able to carry groceries, I got the second hand operated on. 

I learned a bit from my last surgery, and was happy to apply those lessons to this hand.

I made sure the hand was always above my head. The last time, I had some swelling in the hand which delayed a few things, so I kept it high even while sleeping, with the bed moved to the corner and the pillows set up in such a way that I couldn't turn and remove my hand from the corner where it was propped/wedged. 

I worked the passive stretches more aggressively (whatever that means *laugh*). On the first hand, I would curl the fingers in using my other hand (I had absolutely no grip strength in the tendons which had been released and scraped), and then rest my elbow on the wall at ear level and press my chin on the fingers to be able to close the hand. My PT was surprised at how much flexibility I had the last time, as a lot of people don't tr to work things at all.

I also have been curling the fingers back, opening them to an extreme and using the other hand to bend them back slowly and then holding it. My finger joints hyperextend a bit normally, so I want to be sure I regain that flexibility. The left hand is back to normal, but it took a while, so I'm getting the jump on the process this time. 

I had learned what I tended to eat, so I got things of that nature which were easy to open and reheat with one hand. I did make the mistake of buying a whole box of satsuma oranges, the peeling of which has been... problematic. *laugh*

And, due to my musical frustration, I bought a Theremin. I suck majorly, and it turns out one does need ones fingers to get better control of the pitch when making small shifts. However, I do have an idea of how I'm going to tackle the instrument as time goes on, looking for practice exercises for trombone in order to start working intervals, figuring how how positions work, and so on. 

The weirdest thing so far? When the crazyglued part of the bandages peeled off, I didn't see any stitches. However, I did see a few things which looked like thick hairs growing out of my palm. They were like cat whiskers.

When I went back for the followup, I mentioned it to my surgeon, first bringing up the Cronenberg movie (her comment: "Oh, yeat, that was totally creepy!"), and then showing her my palm. "Oh, man, you're *right*!" *laugh*

"I was reading some current research on new procedures, and ran across some work using dissolvable thread and protein glues which are absorbed by the body. There's less scarring and no need for removal, but I couldn't find any references to such being used in the palm of the hand. I knew it was going to be different from what we did before, but you've been so open to everything to maximize the results that I made a last-minute decision to give it a try. Oh, and the whiskers are just the ends of the thread poking out, and I'll just trim those flush. What's left should dissolve in the next week or so."

(Incidentally, yet another instance where a world-wide conspiracy wasn't monitoring medical professionals at every level to prevent them from expanding knowledge. Yay, science! *laugh*)

Even though my new round of physical therapy doesn't start until Tuesday, I'm working the small exercises I got last time in the first session. I'm hoping that I'll be back up to snuff before the New Year... although that's probably pushing it. *laugh*

Oh! One more thing!

Since I can't hold weights above 10 lbs easily even in my left hand for more than 10 minutes, I picked up a pair of wrist weights which can go up to 20 lbs. each. I used to use this kind of weight when I would do weight work as aerobics, and so I'm doing a super set of 3 sets of 5 distinct exercises (10 reps) for each upper body muscle group, and then doing repeating each set until failure. I figure I don't want to fall behind by just watching TV, and I'll be able to make up the hand strength thing by doing the progressive Gripmaster program I used to do when I did free climbing. 

Life is good!


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## JeffFromMtl (Dec 11, 2011)

My roommate just had surgery on his hand. They pretty much had to reconstruct the area of his thumb, down around the wrist area with metal plates. You could probably consider yourself lucky, considering your short recovery time. The thing is, my roommate is a boxer. He broke his hand on another guy's face in the middle of a match and being the competitor he is, he didn't let up - he just kept letting the hooks fly. And his recovery time? 18 months before he can throw a punch with his right hand again. Needless to say, he's depressed as hell, but he's going to take the time off of boxing to work on Jiu Jitsu once his hand is in good enough condition for it.


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## Alimination (Dec 11, 2011)

Shit man that's tough, Glad your doing well though, you seem optimistic. 

Back in high school I started developing major wrist aches on my left hand. At the time I wasn't a guitar player, but I did play Viola. Hurt so bad I wanted to drop the class. I eventually did tell my teacher bout it and we just did exercises and stretches together eventually the pain went away.

hehe I'd probably take it worse if I was in your shoes. My musical frustration would drive me nuts. 

EDIT: (^^^^ comment above me) Ahh! Forgot to mention that my father has something like that. He broke his hands multiple times being a gymnast. Eventually since he didn't treat it so well when he was younger it came back to haunt him. Few years back he ended up having to get metal plates constructed all over this hands.


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## Go To Bed Jessica (Dec 11, 2011)

Wow... this sounds really intense man. You're gonna heal up just fine though - you have the right attitude and are taking a sensible, considered approach to the whole thing by the sound of it.

Good job on remaining sane and positive throughout - I'm not sure I would cope with it as well as you seem to be.

You'll probably look back on your re-learning phase as a huge positive in a few years' time and it will doubtless do good things for your technique.

Keep up the good work.


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## pawel (Dec 11, 2011)

It's good to hear you're handling it so well. You have the right attitude and are approaching it in a very serious and systematic way (more so than I did I have to say), which is very good. In the big scheme of things, your recovery time seems pretty short, just make sure you don't overload your hands too quickly. 

And I do agree that the re-learning can be very beneficial. I am finding it myself that I am working more consciously on some of my technique afte having to re-learn and readjust it and have probably improved in some ways. I probably play more after the surgery/accident than before.


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## Explorer (Dec 11, 2011)

Go To Bed Jessica said:


> (Y)ou have the right attitude and are taking a sensible, considered approach to the whole thing by the sound of it.



The *only* reason I'm taking a sensible approach is that I've had too many injuries where I pushed it too soon afterwards. I'm lucky in that all those grinding joints from previous injuries keep me constantly cognizant of the long-term ramifications of being an idiot and not having patience, and the one thing I really care about is being able to make music. *laugh*

I've gone through at least one reinvention of technique years ago, when wrist/hand problems arose from bad angles. I was lucky enough to have been surrounded by people who were able to teach me great principles of motion which don't put strain on the angles of the hands and wrists. 

Since the issue this time will be in rebuilding hand strength, I figure I'll take the Tai Chi Chuan approach. 

Tai Chi Chuan means "Grand Ultimate Fist." You go through learning slowly, so that you perfect your positions while building strength, and then you apply that perfection and strength to faster movement. You don't gain the leg strength needed for later if you don't use the low stances, and you don't perfect your position if you don't know how to apply those positions. 

A lot of people only study the "Grand Ultimate" part, and decide that the "Fist" doesn't fit with their particular choices in life. That's normally what you see, large groups of people going through the motions slowly. That's okay, but I view it like someone who learns the techniques of piano by using a wooden keyboard to practice position... but never actually playing on a real piano. *laugh* 

Anyway, I'll build the strength, perfect the positions, and then start cranking the metronome.


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## Andromalia (Dec 11, 2011)

I broke eighteen various bones in my left hand a few years ago in a bike accident so I guess the best advice I can give for rehab is 'type, type, type".
When they removed the er...plaster (not sure of english word) around my hand which had been there for 2 months and a half, I didn't have enough strength to press a keyboard key. 
Playing the guitar was out of question for some time, but typing builds up your fingers and forearm muscles pretty fast without too much pain.
It did alas have some long term issues such as maximum possible stretching (my pinky hurts if I want to do some hammer-ons pullofs too stretched... ) but using the computer was much nicer than pressing a ball all day.
If you do your rehab properly you can expect full hand use in 3 months for guitar. Can seem long but as you said, better than breaking soemthing else to get there.
Good luck !


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## Explorer (Dec 11, 2011)

My PT has managed to assign some amazingly effect exercises to build up useful motions.

I talked about how hard it was to do partial barres with one finger, and I got assigned an exercise where I have climber's putty (that stuff similar to Silly Putty you squeeze in different ways to build up your hand strength) spread on the table, with my palm down. I have to drag the flattened surface of the last section of the finger towards my palm, flat on the table and through the putty. I'm only supposed to do ten reps total a day on it, and having seen how effective the exercises were by doing them in small amounts of a period of time, I have no temptation to rush it and to cause long-term problems thereby. 

I also get to squeeze the putty between my various outspread fingers, pressing only individual fingers towards each other. 

Who knew that Silly Putty could be so freakin' hard to squeeze? *laugh*


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## Explorer (Jan 2, 2012)

So, here I am, a month after my second operation.

I've had a few sessions of physical therapy, and I mentioned that I had had a nightmare where my hand had done the intensely painful thing which I refer to as The Very Bad Thing. 

And then I was able to get my hand to do The Very Bad Thing in physical therapy. 

My physical therapist, who had never seen a repeat of The Very Bad Thing after surgical intervention, talked to the surgeon, who fit me in in the next two days. (Considering my surgeon is very much in demand, this was pretty fast.) 

We spent the next few hours doing some imaging, some other diagnostics, and discussing what the options are.

We're hopeful that it's post-operative inflammation, so we're trying steroid injection to see where we are in two weeks. 

I've also been forbidden to do more than a limited range of motion, and absolutely no stretching. 

In two weeks, we'll know if she has to go back in. 

And, as icing on this particular cupcake, I had a weird little pustule show up along the other incision/wound site on the same hand. I pulled at the edge of it with a tiny sterilized needle... and out popped what I initially thought was crystalized pus... but which turned out to be a length of folded dissolving thread, , the stuff which held the wounds closed and is supposed to be absorbed. Apparently this length (about a centimeter long) hadn't been absorbed yet, and one end got exposed... which let bacteria in.

At this point, that section's been cleaned out, and the irritation and swelling in that area is gone. 

Did I mention that I spurted blood a few feet during the second injection? *laugh*

----

So... my surgeon didn't want to say anything definitive, but I pressed her and asked, if another procedure was needed, how soon that could be scheduled, and how far off my being able to make music would be.

Ready?

Late April, maybe May until I can start playing again. 

Always looking for the silver lining, I've decided to spend time on harmonica. I'm a decent player, but haven't felt much motivation to really woodshed for years. It looks like now might be the time to pick up a diatonic in Four-Key tuning.

It could be worse, right? *laugh*

But it definitely could be better.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Jan 2, 2012)

So long as it will eventually heal, waiting a few months isn't a huge deal


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## broj15 (Jan 2, 2012)

I feel for you man. My dad used to be a decent guitar player (mainly finger style and classical) until his arthritis in his hands along with pricking his fingers (he was diagnosed with diabetes a few days after he turned 17) has basically rendered his fingers useless. He usually wakes me up at 5:30 every morning to button his dress shirt and tie his tie before he leaves to go to the office. I really hope i don't suffer the same fate


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