Geeze Tony,....i FEEL your pain,.......
I REALY DO! But at least you should heal up OK.
(i've got my "nub" crossed for you! ......read below)
I'm 55 now, but when i was 16 i was about as fearless as most youngsters. I had just rebuilt a motorcycle engine,
rebuilt the carbs and had fired it up on its stand. I had the front sprocket cover off still and somehow got distracted. My knee hit the shift lever just as i was checking the tension on the chain,....and my finger simply followed the chain and
caught my index finger between the sprocket and chain!
I stood there watching the tip of my finger and the entire nail go round and round!!! Part of the nail grows back, but
it's of no use for picking as it curls around before it gets very long, and is weak in the nail bed anyway. I still pick the
nylon strings a bit on the classical guitar on some fingerstyle pieces where i need more appendiges in action, but
just with the fleshy part.
Most times i avoid using it as without a nail it's not as loud as my other fingers, and is a bit sensitive anyway. That's
one of the reason i'm really liking the ukulele. With 1/3 less strings to deal with,....one less picking finger is hardly noticed most times. hehe It also ended up about 20% thicker than my left hand index finger at the same point,
not sure why. But a thumb and 2 other pluckers works great on a Uke for fingerstyle.
Truth be told,....i was really lucky much earlier. I was inquisitive as a youngster, and at 12 years old was in my
parents garage and was fooling with my dad's reloading gear. I had picked up some small cast iron pipe, and fitted
a brass connection at one end that i could place a pistol cartridge primer into. Then i would pull a .22 caliber long rifle
shell apart, pour the gunpowder down the front end of the pipe,.....followed by the lead bullet i had just pulled free.
There i am,...12 years old,. and having my own muzzle loading "pistol". A slight tap on the primer with a hammer,
and the bullet ended up deep in the wooden rafters of the garage. Only problem, after about 10 shots the cast iron
pipe became fatigued. It blew up like a granade with my hand wrapped around it!
I was really lucky no shrapnel ended up in my eyes (or face anywhere). But the web of my left hand opened up
completely, and i could see the muscles and tendons. My left index finger was also broken at the knuckle. It was
a friday night, and as kids do my 1st thought was "who was going to deliver my paper route, AND collect that night!" lol
I immediately wrapped it up and went in and told my mom i needed to go to the hospital. She asked to see the injury,
but i didn't want to alarm her so she called my uncle over and he took a look. (my mom didn't drive)
As soon as he saw the muscles,...he said "lets go!!!
Anyway,...the older heavyset surgeon gave me a local, but kept pushing my head away so i couldn't see him picking
out the bits of steel from deep within my hand. I was really interested and intreagued, and he finally let me watch!
Anyway,...he did a great job and unless you look REALLY close can hardly tell i was injured. The webbing is a little
tighter on my left hand due to scar tissue probably, but it never hinders my playing like the missing fingertip does.
Sometimes a bit of stiffness in the 2nd finger joint from it being broken,.....but very infrequent.
By the way,.....at just 12 years old i realized my dad might have gotten in trouble for storing some reloading stuff
in the garage,.....so i told the police that i found a shotgun shell in the ice covered yard and was trying to pick it
out of the ground when it went off. Nothing ever came of it,.....wonder why though? Bits of steel coming out of
my hand are far different than round lead shot from a shotshell! No Sherlock Holmes there!!!
Anyway,.....here my right hand index finger in all it's glory. (changed to a link for the faint of heart)
(and yes, after i took the pics i touched up my other nails with a file! lol)
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/...x Finger Injury/7-21-11IndexFingerDamage2.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/...nger Injury/7-21-11IndexFingerDamageClose.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/...x Finger Injury/7-21-11IndexFingerDamage3.jpg