I’ve been in casts for the past 7 weeks. Alright, I had a cast on my left wrist for 3 weeks, and the same day I got it off I got a cast on my right wrist for 4 weeks. The second cast came off Monday. I say this to mention how amazing it is that people who see you regularly over that time will, weeks into the cycle, suddenly notice the cast for the first time and say “what happened to you?” It happened as late as this past Sunday.
I say that to introduce a long ramble about my hands. For as a pianist and organist I depend on my hands, not to mention typing being a key part of what I do for both work and relaxation.
This wasn’t the first time I injured my hands. Over a decade ago I was playing basketball at a church men’s day out — and I jammed my left ring finger. It swelled, and didn’t go down for two weeks, so I saw the doctor. It was more than a sprain — I’d chipped the bone at the joint.
The chip had stayed in place, so they put it in a cast to let it heal. Instead the chip moved. So I went to an orthopedic surgeon to have it pinned in place. I asked what to expect, and talked over and over about my piano playing and getting full function back. He listened, operated, and I went to physical therapy. The finger was better, but no longer straight. Then the surgeon declared “that’s about what I expected.”
I was stunned. What part about my expectations did he not hear? If this is what he expected, why didn’t he speak up when I asked him what to expect?
It took me more than 5 years to really get back to playing the piano seriously. In that time I saw several specialists in the area. None of them could propose doing anything better. All said it was a job well done. Some offered joint replacement for the pain. Pain!?! I had no pain, it was just the fact the finger wasn’t where it was supposed to be. I wanted my straight finger back.
Eventually I settled, and eventually I finally found the motivation to seriously start playing again. The finger really can play what it could play before, I just had to learn compensation, just had to put the practice in. I finally admitted to myself that the surgeon really did a good job. I am still disgruntled that he didn’t prepare me. 
Fast forward to this past fall. In November I have two separate incidents, “sprain” both my hands. I finally go to the doctor. He agrees I probably have a sprain, but will do an x-ray just to add peace of mind. But the x-ray shows a fractured 4th metacarpal in the left had. So off to the bone doctor.
The bone doctor puts the left hand in a cast, and sends the right for an MRI. The x-ray has a shadow he cannot see as a fracture or not. Takes three weeks to get the MRI and back to the doctor around Christmas. I get back, get the cast off the left, but put a cast on the right. Seems it has a fractured scaphoid in the wrist. That cast stays on a month until Monday, where I now have a splint for another two weeks.
This time I convalesced differently. I was blunt with the bone doctor about my disappointments with the orthopedic surgeon, and he is very open. He encouraged me to continue playing piano. So I played piano for the church Christmas Pageant (last-minute substitute no less) with a cast on my left hand, and played organ for all services the next week with a cast on my right hand. Perhaps because of how active I was people weren’t ready to realize that I was doing it with casts on my hands.
When I left the Dr. Monday I asked him when I could start swimming again. He told me to wait until I see him a month from now. Between now and then I’ll be doing therapy. When I see him again I’ll ask him when and how I can start doing weights again. I am assuming I can do swimming first before the weights, but I need to get working fairly intensely on both. June is the Corporate Challenge Swim Meet, and I will have under 4 months to get ready.
At The Rainbow 