So the cut on my finger is healing fairly quickly. I’m relieved. But I haven’t told “the rest of the story” …

I had a bandaid* on the finger after I cut it, but I knew I’d have to do something different before playing Les Mis. Having a bandaid on the half-hole finger really doesn’t work for me. (I’m not sure if all oboists would agree, but there’s just not enough sensitivity.) So I went to the local drug store near the Curran prior to our show. I thought I’d buy some liquid bandaid kind of stuff, but I didn’t see any there, so I bought some sort of surgical tape stuff instead. When I got to the musicians’ room I pulled off the bandaid. YIKES! I didn’t realize it would hurt, cause the cut to open again, and bleed all over. I got out some of the tape, and quickly put that over the wound (after sopping up the blood, of course). I figured that if I didn’t like the way it felt I could simply take it off and bleed all over my key or something.

That was a mistake!

I went to the pit and tried to play. The tape was just a bit slippery and I didn’t think it would work well. So I decided to take it off. But the tape is … well … TAPE! Nice, stay-put, sticky tape! I couldn’t get it the darn stuff off because when I tried to it started to pull off a hunk of skin and the cut began to bleed like crazy. So there I was, with tape still stuck on my finger, blood oozing from the corners, wondering what I should do next.

Well, a little pressure and some sopping up of blood (it’s amazing how much a tiny cut can bleed … seeing it now I realize it wasn’t all that big), and the cut stopped bleeding so profusely. I got out a scissors and cut as much tape off as possible (but none right on the cut since that seemed to be where it was adhering so stubbornly), and knew I’d just have to deal.

So I did.

Everything seemed to be going fine. On occasion I had to wipe blood off the half hole keys of both the oboe and English horn, but it was okay. Until the “sewer solo”. Sigh. the first note came out fine (always a “whew!” for me), but the leap to the second octave simply didn’t happen. There was a very brief moment of silence. I think my finger simply didn’t stay covering the half-hole key. The tape was slippery and I didn’t have the sensitivity to know exactly where it was, so I’m guessing that was the problem. Or maybe I hit something because I was feeling so uncomfortable. I really don’t know. My heart went “kaplooey” (if hearts do that) and mostly I was upset with myself. But there you go. Things happen.

I’m sure very few in the audience even knew. Shoot, as I may have mentioned before, they are so busy watching Valjean drag Marius to safety that they probably barely hear me. (I tend to think it’s all about the oboe, but I’ve been told otherwise by people who’ve seen the show. I guess I have to believe them.) But it’s that pride thing, as I’ve mentioned at my other site.

Pride is a nasty thing, if you ask me. It just interferes with my sanity. I need to forget about the errors I make and go on, and I can’t seem to do that. I dwell on them. I’m embarrassed. I wallow. And it’s really about pride. So this is something I’ll have to work on; get rid of the pride problem and I think I’d be happier. And if I do … well … I’ll blog about how proud I am that I’ve rid myself of the pride issue.

Or not.

But back to the finger … (It’s amazing how I can ramble, don’t you think?)

Yesterday I had to deal with getting back on the bike (or the horse, or whatever you want to call it) and play that sewer solo again. In the morning I went to our local drug store and found some of the liquid bandaid stuff. I put that on at home, to see if it was a workable solution (the tape finally came off with a lot of warm water). I can’t describe the stinging I felt when I put it on. I thought I was going to go through the roof. But that finally stopped and it was clear to me that this stuff was going to be the solution to the cut problem. Now I “merely” had to get through the solo so I could get over that hump of fear. (Okay … mountain of fear at this point.) Praying through the whole solo, I made it during the matinee. It wasn’t as freely musical as I’d have liked, but there were no problems. And then last night … well … still praying through it (as I always do, to be honest) … it was perhaps the best I’ve played that particular solo.

The finger today is healing very well. I don’t believe I’ll need to put anything on it at all. Good news!

So there it is. I managed to get back on the bike and ride around the block. I wasn’t wearing a helmet, but I was wearing liquid bandaid and that worked just fine.

I would never recommend cutting your finger with a reed knife, though. It’s just a bad idea!

*My program here underlines bandaid which implies it is a misspelled word. Hmmm. (My program also marks “messpelled” as incorrect, but I think I like that word; I think it should be defined as a correctly spelled word that looks messy. Thoughts?)
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