My playing days are over.....

[Rob Zamites]

Well, I guess I'll have more time to read all the posts here at the cafe. Slipped on ice in front of my house on Wednesday, and after x-rays at the urgent care clinic, found out I'd broken a bone in my wrist and the base of my thumb -- on my fretting hand http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif
I go today to the orthopaedic surgeon to a) get more x-rays b) see whether I have to have my thumb break wired in place and c) get a proper cast put on.
Good thing my cittern is still in Brain Dean's hands -- maybe I'll have the cast off before he gets it finished!

Cheers!

Look on the bright side, At least you have copious amounts of the finest painkiller to hand.

[JEStanek]

Rob, sorry to hear of your accident. I hope you fully recover soon.

Jamie

[mehrsam]

Maybe you can use the opportunity to pioneer lap-style slide mandolin... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[clarksavage]

Dude, heavy good wishes coming your way for speedy recovery.

Clark

[steve V. johnson]

May you have a smooth and complete recovery!

Mark's got a pretty cool idea... lap steel guitar/slide guitar... Great fun.

keep reading (here and elsewhere), and by the time you're whole again and your BD
arrives, you'll have all sorts of new stuff to use when you play!

And, of course, there's the brew... <GGG>

stv

[Yuletide]

Maybe you can use the opportunity to pioneer lap-style slide mandolin... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Do you play ITM? Might be a good time to learn bodhran.

A close friend once told me my finger picking on guitar wouldn't sound much worse if I were wearing mittens on both hands. Ouch! Look at the bright side: at least you'll get better, which is something I never did. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Flowerpot]

Well, I feel for you. I am just now able to pick at maybe 80% of normal, after my Dec 1 shoulder surgery to pin the broken right clavicle from a mt biking accident. Just hang in there, it's temporary.

Get lots of sleep, eat lots of greens, and take a calcium supplement to help grow new bone (the latter, my doctor told me 6 weeks post-surgery -- "I did tell you to start taking calcium, didn't I?" -- thanks a lot for the timely advice). After the cast/wire/whatever comes off, you may want to see a physical therapist to help you ease back into full range of motion. My orthopedist is great in the surgery room, but not as helpful when it came to helping re-gain lost motion, some of which is due to being immobilized for weeks. A couple of visits to the physical therapist (who in my case is a friend of the family, so it was free!) helped tremendously.

Oh, it's really fun to type with one hand too... makes you weigh the importance of each word before bothering to type it....

[rclepper]

I second the advice regarding the physical therapist. I've come back from a picking hand wrist break and have also battled tendinitis in that wrist for years. Physical therapy was a big help in the tendinitis management. I didn't seek them out after the wrist break but probably should have. I consider myself to be 98% recovered from both and I play a lot and have no (known) loss of dexterity. When you do start to play again after a cast removal, your muscles will have atrophied. It's good to take it slow and gradual and to lay off at the first sign of pain. Sometimes the pain doesn't really set in till a day or two later, so it's really important to back off at the first sensation of pain. You might need to start playing say 5 minutes a day for a week, then advance to 10 minutes a day for a week, etc. Sounds slow and tedious but it is likely necessary and it works. It's basically a concept called "work hardening", where instead of stopping an activity entirely and allowing the muscles to further atrophy you instead keep doing a little of the activity each day and back off at first indication of pain.

You might even want to keep picking open strings with your picking hand while your fretter is in the cast. Boring, I know, but may save you having to bring both hands back up to speed. The slide mando idea has a lot of merit here. Maybe drinking a lot while doing it will help pass the time... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Best wishes on a speedy recovery!

[Rob Zamites]

Well, had surgery today. 2 pins through the thumb break, pins in for 6 weeks, cast for 8 total. Rehab is gonna be sooooooo fun ;) I sense I'll be picking "Julia Delaney" and "Cooley's Reel" until next Christmas!

[steve V. johnson]

Yuletide Bob sez, "Do you play ITM? Might be a good time to learn bodhran."

That could work, but my favorite bodraniste, my wife Min Gates, says that she learned to play the bones so that she could play with just one hand and hold a drink in the other hand.

So maybe bones would do better...

Clickety-clack and may you heal well and soon,

stv