My wife and I moved from Southern California, Santa Clarita / Valencia area, to the Nashville, Tennessee, area in May of 2020. This was right at the beginning of the COVID shutdowns but nevertheless was a fairly smooth move.
At the time my wife had just retired as a very successful consumer protection attorney and I had retired from the technology business. My goal was to focus on studying classical piano, continuing what I had started with Lauren in California, practicing my other instruments and playing some solo gigs while building a 4 place aircraft.
Everything started off smoothly enough. By July I had located a great teacher and concert pianist in Columbia, Scott Burt, and soon arranged to play some solo gigs, on guitar, at 31 South Barbecue.
Things were going along really nicely until October of 2022. I had been keeping pretty much to my plan, practicing piano, bass and guitar about 4 hours a day. Most of that piano, probably the most challenging thing I’ve learned to do and so far to go !
Sometime in October I found I could not bend my right thumb. This makes piano almost impossible. There is no way to tuck your thumb under in the true meaning of the word. So, a couple of trips to the Bone and Joint Institute in Franklin, TN, later I was scheduled for surgery on December 30th, 2022. Ulnar nerve entrapment release. After having nerve conductivity tests done it was determined that I should also have carpal tunnel surgery at the same time.
The net result was I had surgery on my right wrist, inside right forearm and outside right elbow. Recovery expected to be anything from one year to 18 months.
Today, as I type this I am at 14 months. My right thumb is now functional but had little strength. In addition, the rest of my fingers on my right hand are a little uncoordinated and out of control, and weak. I have, however, as of December 2023, started practicing again, albeit for short periods of time.
I am hoping to be back at gigging sometime in March of 2024. I don’t expect I will be going back to intensive piano practice, or lessons, until my hand is fully functional. My hope is that practicing the guitar, on which I play a lot of finger style picking, will speed up the return to normal function.