Hi, Patrick My version was trying to cut a flange bushing with hardened glue on it with a razor blade while holding the flange in my left hand. The corner of the razor blade entered the end of the long finger on my left hand, over on the edge of the tip. It went in nearly to the bone. For a cello player, this counts as high drama. I didn't go to the emergency room. First, I didn't want to take the time, while the place bled like mad and possible infection and inflammation set in. Second, I don't have health insurance. Third, I had heard from other cellists in college what can happen to that very important small area of finger end once scar tissue gets going. Nerves can get involved. Matters can go from bad to worse, for years on end. I didn't want some unknown doc acting like a seamstress. I ran to the bathroom, held it under cold water, then used a double layer of bandaids to hold it together, as carefully and tightly as I could. I followed up with a layer of adhesive tape. Then I didn't touch it, or let anything else touch it, for 48 hours. Undid it, added aloe vera gel, and wrapped it in a double bandaid again. Repeated once a day. I didn't play the cello for 8 weeks. I could feel where it was -- sort of a drawing feeling, like I was fingering a piece of string on the fingerboard -- but it healed clean and painfree. If it had gotten infected I would have taken it to a doc. I'm not sure if what I did was the "right" thing, but it worked for me. I felt like a prize idiot. I already knew that using one's left hand as a vise is a classic invitation to bodily harm. I had even written about it, for heaven's sake! Go on, everyone, tell us your mishaps. Maybe I'll feel better ... Susan
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