Medical Update On Big Chief Barclay

Was at the hand surgeon for my follow up on Friday…. Apparently this is more serious than I originally thought… IF (really made me nervous when she used that word) I regain full functionality of my hand again, we’re looking at about 3 months or so….too early to tell if there’s any nerve damage, because I basically short circuited my whole hand and everything from my elbow down has some sort of shock and trauma….she’s concerned that I can’t move my pinky more than half an inch either way….

My mission now is to try to start using that hand again, and do some exercises to get it flexible again, even though it hurts like a mother….she took my finger and bent it about 1/3 of the way, and I saw stars…how the hell I sat there casually talking to the doctors and nurses, when my finger was just dangling there, I’ll never know….

She showed me the x-rays from when I was in the hospital last week, and I freaked out more seeing them than I was when I was laying in the bed at the hospital.

Now, I know many of you are going to think I'm just being some kind of drama queen, and that it's "only your left pinky", and yes, I get that... I totally understand in the "big picture" this is a relatively minor injury, BUT here's the rub: When you're basically a one man show that's operating on a schedule like ours (well, mine), where people have been patiently (and not so patiently) waiting for orders, ANY kind of event that doesn't let me operate to full potential, well, it can be a problem.

I know I'm not a surgeon or some kind of master glass blower or concert pianist, where every digit is worth its weight in gold, but, making these things requires does require a certain amount of manual dexerity, and even though I am a "rightie", my left hand is kinda essential for such tasks as: Holding molds closed while casting, holding figures while painting, holding mold halves while creating molds, and even such simple, brainless chores as wrapping figures and pulling packing tape from the dispenser.

Trust me, I'm not using this as any kind of excuse for slacking off, I'm only bringing it up as a sort of "fair warning" that I'm dealing with something, and it may or may not be an impediment.... Thanks for understanding......