I hurt my left hand last fall. Something in the crease between the thumb and the rest of the hand, so that it hurt to grip anything, which meant playing and especially tuning dulcimer was not much fun.

When it still wasn’t better after a few weeks, I went to the doctor who referred me to physical therapy (PT), which really reduced the pain through ultrasound and paraffin treatments at their office and ice massage, Advil, and some stretches at home.

I thought it was nearly healed, or as nearly as could be expected, in January and February. But when I started playing more, trying to gear up for the coming season, it started bothering me again. It’s still not nearly as bad as it was, but it seems weak and sometimes still rather painful.

Sunday it was especially bad — perhaps a delayed reaction to tuning Wednesday and Saturday and rehearsing on Friday.

I’d had a reevaluation at the doctor’s in February, which set up an appointment with an orthopedist, which I just got home from. They’re sending me back to PT.

What will happen next? Who knows… if all goes well, I think the best I can expect is that with several months of PT, including a strength-building program, I’ll still be able to keep up my career. At worst, I may have to quit playing for some long period of time (a year?) and get some other job.

Whatever happens, God is good; even if my circumstances are not what I’d like them to be, I know his character, and that’s enough for me to trust him even when it doesn’t look like he’s playing very nice.