Ouch, I cut my finger!

[AccordionTop126]

Sliced my right index finger on some sheet metal on the back of my stove while cleaning in the kitchen. It hurts like the devil and is now bandaged up. Amazingly, my first thought was, "oh no, now I won't be able to practice my accordion until this heals"! Have any of you had a similar accident? Bad luck.

 

[maugein96]

Sliced my right index finger on some sheet metal on the back of my stove while cleaning in the kitchen. It hurts like the devil and is now bandaged up. Amazingly, my first thought was, "oh no, now I won't be able to practice my accordion until this heals"! Have any of you had a similar accident? Bad luck.

Don't worry,

I was in a horrific car accident in 1997 and nearly never made it. Whilst I was in Intensive Care, a consultant surgeon asked me if I wanted to retain use of the ring and little finger of my right hand, as the tendon on the back of my hand which serves them was severed. He further explained that the anaesthetic required to carry out the operation may wipe me out, due to the severity of my other injuries. For all of 5 seconds I thought about it. If I pulled through it all, what good would a 3rd rate amateur accordionist be with only three working fingers on his right hand? 

I therefore agreed to the op, and when I came round I felt as though they had amputated my hand. To this day, 23 years later, I have very little to no feeling at all across the back of my right hand between my knuckles and my wrist, but I was determined that all my fingers would work again. It took me about 5 years of extreme pain, cramps, and frustration, but I managed it eventually. 

I'm now a 4th rate player, but can still manage it. I've lost some independent movement of my little finger, but it still works. 

Today I cut the top of my left thumb with a junior hacksaw. Never even flinched. Just one of those things. 

I also play guitar, so fingerstyle is now out of the question, following the car accident, and I bashed more than one of my left fingertips flat with a 2lb hammer when I was a plumber. I can still play the guitar despite all that, and I suppose if I was meant to be  a musician I wouldn't have wasted years doing building work and running about in police cars at over 100mph, as they're bad for the tools of a musician's trade. 

I'm sure you'll cope with your latest misfortune! Bet you're sorry you asked us now?

 

[AccordionTop126]

Sliced my right index finger on some sheet metal on the back of my stove while cleaning in the kitchen. It hurts like the devil and is now bandaged up. Amazingly, my first thought was, "oh no, now I won't be able to practice my accordion until this heals"! Have any of you had a similar accident? Bad luck.

Don't worry,

I was in a horrific car accident in 1997 and nearly never made it. Whilst I was in Intensive Care, a consultant surgeon asked me if I wanted to retain use of the ring and little finger of my right hand, as the tendon on the back of my hand which serves them was severed. He further explained that the anaesthetic required to carry out the operation may wipe me out, due to the severity of my other injuries. For all of 5 seconds I thought about it. If I pulled through it all, what good would a 3rd rate amateur accordionist be with only three working fingers on his right hand? 

I therefore agreed to the op, and when I came round I felt as though they had amputated my hand. To this day, 23 years later, I have very little to no feeling at all across the back of my right hand between my knuckles and my wrist, but I was determined that all my fingers would work again. It took me about 5 years of extreme pain, cramps, and frustration, but I managed it eventually. 

I'm now a 4th rate player, but can still manage it. I've lost some independent movement of my little finger, but it still works. 

Today I cut the top of my left thumb with a junior hacksaw. Never even flinched. Just one of those things. 

I also play guitar, so fingerstyle is now out of the question, following the car accident, and I bashed more than one of my left fingertips flat with a 2lb hammer when I was a plumber. I can still play the guitar despite all that, and I suppose if I was meant to be  a musician I wouldn't have wasted years doing building work and running about in police cars at over 100mph, as they're bad for the tools of a musician's trade. 

I'm sure you'll cope with your latest misfortune! Bet you're sorry you asked us now?

Maigein96, my cut definitely wasn't as bad as your injuries! It did lead me to wonder how many other musicians have concerns like mine after an accident that injures the playing hands. Nice to hear of another former policeman playing accordion. I remember those high speed chases, but thankfully never crashed. It is amazing how fragile our fingers really are, considering all we do with them. For musicians, I think we have to be especially careful, and accidents happen very quickly that can be truly life-changing. While in the army, I crushed three fingers in an armored vehicle hatch, and they healed. Even then, my thoughts went right to worries about my accordion playing. It is a big part of my life. 
You are right, I will cope, but the big question is whether it will teach me to be more careful!  

 

[Dingo40]

Guys,
Take good care of even small injuries as they can turn septic!
Plenty of soap and water initially, then a liberal application of "Betadine" antiseptic ointment, to take care of the bugs, and a suitable dressing to keep the Betadine in place and dirt out.
It's worth the effort!

My sympathies,John, regarding your nasty experience and consequences!

 

[AccordionTop126]

Guys,
Take good care of even small injuries as they can turn septic!
Plenty of soap and water initially, then a liberal application of "Betadine" antiseptic ointment, to take care of the bugs, and a suitable dressing to keep the Betadine in place and dirt out.
It's worth the effort!

My sympathies,John, regarding your nasty experience and consequences!

Very good advice! I second your  sympathies about those injuries. Maugein96 I admire your will to pull through that accident, and I am sure you are much more than a fourth -rate player. I know the antiseptic ointments speed healing, too. Watch those fingers, everyone. We need more accordion music in this world.

 

[maugein96]

Hi,

I was a tutor constable and my driver was on his last day of tuition with me. We had been asked to attend a house fire with persons believed trapped inside, and we had the misfortune to collide head on with a lorry in a narrow country lane. The police car driver fared worse than I did and had to leave the force. He had been showing off his recently acquired driving "skills", but decided to brake when he should have taken the car up a grass bank and "rolled" it to avoid colliding with the lorry. Fortunately the lorry driver only suffered from shock, and the trapped persons in the house fire managed to escape without police assistance. You live and learn, sometimes by a very narrow margin. 

They offered me ill health pension, but I was just short on service, so had to soldier on, bad hand and all. I managed to get an office job for the last 5 years otherwise I'd never have made it. 

I was in the navy before I swapped uniforms, and fortunately never suffered many injuries there. I was in Sussex, then the former Lothian and Borders force in Scotland, where I finished my service. 

There are one or two others on here who are ex job, although they haven't been very active on the forum for a while now.

 

[Dingo40]

John,
I have many times wondered how there aren't many more accidents on the British secondary roads we see featured on the various British made TV series ( such as "Escape to the Country " and "Midsomer Murders") which we watch here?
These narrow secondary road "laneways" are barely wide enough for a single vehicle, let alone passing another, yet the drivers blithely approach blind corners at speed, never considering what may be around the corner, even if only animals, cyclists or pedestrians! :huh:

 

[maugein96]

John,
I have many times wondered how there aren't many more accidents on the British secondary roads we see featured on the various British made TV series ( such as "Escape to the Country " and "Midsomer Murders") which we watch here?
These narrow secondary road "laneways" are barely wide enough for a single vehicle, let alone passing another, yet the drivers blithely approach blind corners at speed, never considering what may be around the corner, even if only animals, cyclists or pedestrians! :huh:

Dingo,

The truth is that there are very many accidents on British secondary roads. The British ethic of "It will never happen to me" is omnipresent, and there is a culture here of "the fastest wins" on any road. 

I was probably of that same culture until the accident I described tended to alter my mindset. 

These days it is the culture of the 4x4 that tends to make the UK driver one of the most dangerous in the world. The theory is to buy the biggest heaviest piece of metal with 4 gigantic wheels, on the basis that everything and anything will get out of your way for fear of extermination in event of a collision. No special driving test required so you just batter and bash your way into all traffic situations involving smaller lighter vehicles. 

What the 4x4 heroes forget is the fact that the 38 tonne articulated lorry is known as the "King of the Road" for no other reason that they can often do speeds approaching that of a sluggish 4x4, and if they collide with anything that "anything" will almost invariably come off worst. I worked as a bus driver for the last 12 years of my working life, and a 38 tonne timber lorry fighting for a gap with a 40 foot long bus on one of our narrowish 60mph single carriageway roads would be the outright winner, on the basis that the vehicle would be more than twice the weight of the bus, and had no windows along its entire length. 

Worse than that is the fact that the humble deer and pheasant pay no respect whatsoever as to what happens to be where they want to go. Vehicle drivers may well score a "kill", but the resultant damage is often horrific, and sometimes fatal. 

So, being the wise old sage that I am, I often get tailgated by impatient 4x4 super drivers, or alternatively the owners of the 0-60 in 5 seconds, living to death in half that time, merchants who just want me out of the way so they can show the world that they're driving the latest supercars. 

A guy in a big fancy sports job once shouted to me to be careful I didn't damage his £100,000 4.2 litre brand new sports car, as I squeezed through a gap that he had created by double parking. I replied, "Don't worry, I have 8 CCTV cameras on my £195,000, 10.6 litre bus that will prove I won't. I had to pass an advanced driving test to make sure I could drive this thing." 

Don't think he was impressed, as he later passed me on a 60mph single carriageway road doing about 100mph. Whatever turns you on. The bus I was driving had a faulty speed limiter and could do nearly 85mph, but I saved that for the boy racers in their puny little 1.3 litre souped up girl magnet mobiles. Select 2nd gear, lights go to green, and I'm doing 50mph before the kid realises I'm in front. Not recommended with elderly passengers on board, as false teeth on the floor are a trip hazard!


UK driving is great, but the penalties can be severe!

 

[Dingo40]

Thanks John,
A pleasure to read your posts!

 

[jozz]

On average, every two years or so I get myself into an accident involving hands or wrists, that potentially keeps me away from band practice.

The last time end of last year it healed enough between two performances, so I guess I am good to go for another two years now

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

AT126,

Only a very limited number of people on this forum know much about my antecedent history, and I do not intend to bore you with the details.

Suffice to say that my survival beyond the age of twenty-five or so remains a mystery to me, and to have reached my seventies in reasonable condition has far exceeded my expectations.

Scarred, battered but still unbowed.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Stephen,
I also feel lucky to have made it past 25, but that’s because I was touring 300 days a year with a rock band, not nearly as dangerous as your life was!
Hand injuries are tough for keyboard players. Broke my thumb playing basketball and had a recording session the next day. Surprising how much we use our thumbs! But I managed to get through it by sheer doggedness....glad it was just a dumb jingle.
It’ll heal, AT126. All the best!
Here’s another good one while I’m thinking about it. Was playing an outdoor festival in the Sierras. It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit that day and my piano sat on the stage uncovered for 3 hours before we played. Our first tune was a rocker with me hammering eighth notes all the way through. My adrenaline was up so much I didn’t notice anything until the next song. Then I thought,”Hmmm. My fingers kind of hurt.” I had blisters on all of them. The black keys had absorbed so much heat nobody could touch them. Had to have a pitcher of ice water to cool my hands off between songs and couldn’t play for 2 weeks after.

 

[Dingo40]

Eddy,
Ouch indeed!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Eddy,

Three hundred days on tour is a punishing programme, for sure. As is playing a vastly overheated piano. It is good that we are now able to look back and think: "hell, did I really do all that?" I suppose it is one of the few good things about getting older.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Hi Eddy,

Three hundred days on tour is a punishing programme, for sure.  As is playing a vastly overheated piano.  It is good that we are now able to look back and think: "hell, did I really do all that?"  I suppose it is one of the few good things about getting older.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

Indeed. Not nostalgia, just the richness of life. 
I broke up with a woman once because she said she was tired of me telling all these stories....I wasn't bragging. Just trying to catch her up on stuff she missed. Another indication that that relationship was not a good idea.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Eddy,

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be !!!!!

I am puzzled about one thing ............ how on Earth did you manage to get a word in edge ways? It is rare in most relationships for a bloke to be allowed more than a few words at a time. This is so that the girl can enjoy an uninterrupted flow, and hone up her ability to talk a glass eye to sleep.

Just sitting here with my Tin Hat on, awaiting the flack from our lady members. Sorry girls ....... I don't really mean it.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Stephen,
Hmmmmm….now that I think about it, maybe she didn't want me to talk at all!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Eddy,

Now you've got it !!!

Stephen.

 

[hais1273]

Who knew keyboards could be so dangerous!

I'm developing an unexpected in woodwork, it's proving a welcome diversion in these difficult days. . I stumbled across Rex Kreuger. Rex has a series of clips based around the concept of woodworking for humans, that is using hand tools, rather than large semi-industrial machine. In one of these clips he makes a "rustic bench" using just three tools a bit and brace, a saw and hand axe (hatchet).
"Wow, I could do that" thinks I. I found the saw, the bit and brace and the not very sharp hatchet. Hmm, after half an hour with the bench grinder and an oil stone the hatchet, still wasn't very sharp. I had an experimental tap with the hatchet. Nope, this isn't for me, in my minds eye I saw large bloody dents in my left hand and an un-played accordion.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FKyzLYXiqw

The clip is worth watching anyway, because it shows a way around technology. It inspired a pretty good "rustic" 3 legged stool that kept me quiet over most of Easter Sunday.

 

[craptiger]

Guys,
Take good care of even small injuries as they can turn septic!
Plenty of soap and water initially, then a liberal application of "Betadine" antiseptic ointment, to take care of the bugs, and a suitable dressing to keep the Betadine in place and dirt out.
It's worth the effort!

My sympathies,John, regarding your nasty experience and consequences!

On the subject of soap and water... I once somehow managed to slice open the tip of my right index finger on a soap dispenser in a public washroom hours before a ceilidh band competition.  Thankfully managed to play through the pain - with a plaster too - and came second in the competition!
As it happens, this was our perfect outcome because the winners got to play for a ceilidh in the evening whereas we got to drink beer and dance.

(To be fair we hadn't taken the whole thing completely seriously anyway, only putting the band together in a car park an hour before the competition)