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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My worst injury (so far) involved =
moving a Hamburg
S&S B through a doorway at Lincoln Center in NY. A "helpful" stage =
hand came
along and without saying anything to the three of us doing the move, =
pulled on
the piano which caused it to lurch through the doorway just as the door =
began to
swing shut. Caught my left middle finger in the trapwork and left about =
3/4" of
the tip of my finger on the shift lever (ouch). Literally the most =
painful
injury of my life. I rushed to Roosevelt hospital about two blocks away =
and the
ER doc (dressed in his tennis whites on a Sunday afternoon) wanted to =
"amputate
the first digit" but told me to come back the next day for the =
procedure. I
guess he had a match to play that day. I decided to see a hand =
specialist the
next day instead. He checked me in to the hospital and did a procedure =
where
they cut a flap in the palm of my hand and sewed my finger to it. Four =
days in
recovery and I was in a cast for six weeks. Then when they cut my finger =
free
that really smarted! I had a big hunk of skin growing out of the end of =
my
finger. I just knew I'd never play the bass again. Six weeks of physical =
therapy
and it began to look a little more normal but still somewhat deformed.
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That was all back in 1983 but today the =
finger
looks just like the others and even has feeling in the tip. a real
"Frankenstein" operation but my advice is if you severly injure your =
hand, see a
specialist (and I don't mean an RPT). It's amazing what they can
do.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Phil Romano<BR>Myrtle Beach, =
SC<BR></FONT><A
href="mailto:philromano@attglobal.net"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>philromano@attglobal.net</FONT></A></DIV></BODY></HTML>