I cut my left thumb off at a jobsite above the Rose Bowl in Dec of 1986.
Fortunately there was an excellent hand surgeon across the street from the hospital I was taken to.
It happened about 7:15 in the morning. We were out of material and we were ripping angles off scrap blocks to build each rafter tail to a certain angle. Since it was all scrap material, it was too short to grasp well so there was no way to do it except grab it from the back after you got the saw started in the cut.
Sometimes there is a knot on one side that doesn't show on the other side of a piece of wood due to the way it was milled. The knot just doesn't go all the way through.
Anyway, the saw hit that unseen knot and the saw kicked in my right hand and walked backwards over left hand and took my thumb off. It was barely hanging on by a little bit of the pad on the inside of my hand.
The thing that sets us apart from many animals is our ability to grasp things with our opposing thumb.
Now to the adaption part:
I had to adapt.
I was back at work 2 weeks later with a cast on my left forearm and hand, doing carpentry. I learned to pick up and hold a nail with two fingers instead of my thumb and finger. I learned to hold a drinking glass between my first and second fingers. I had to adapt and relearn everything my left hand used to do.
I KEPT GOING
It is no different when you quit smoking. Life keeps going on whether you smoke or not.
You adapt and deal with it until it is not such a struggle.
I could not play guitar for 2 years because I did not have the strength in my thumb to push against the back of the neck to make chords.
After my first 6-8 weeks of PT for my thumb, the first joint was still unable to straighten. It just sat there cocked. I knew it would be difficult to move around the guitar if I ever wanted to play again so I asked the surgeon if he could fix it. He went back in and got it working right.
It's not 100% but it's 90% and I have no real limitations in using it.
So, yes, you might have to try again with a different plan but for your sake, don't play at quitting.
One time is enough and if you listen and understand, it should only take this last time.
Believe In Yourselves
We Got Your Back
Learn To Adapt
