Bruce Goes Under The Knife

One of the hazards of a career in computing is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). Unfortunately, over the last year Bruce started to show the symptoms. These developed until he did not have any feeling in the end of his fingers on both hands. Now this is both bad news and good news for a finger-picking guitarist: he couldn't feel the strings when he played, but if he played too long he didn't feel the pain in the end of his fingers. After a bit of procrastinating, Bruce finally decided to have the required surgery, starting with his left hand. On July 22nd he went under the knife and is now waiting patiently to see if the surgery was successful. Once the left hand is healed he will have the right hand done as well. Needless to say, this has put Grateful We're Not Dead on the sidelines for the summer, but we're looking forward to getting back into the fray come the Fall.

Update 1: I talked to Bruce on July 29th and his only complaint was that he was having trouble forming the B7 chord. Now it was supposed to take six weeks for to heal after this surgery, but what can you expect from a guy who was out entertaining at a Christmas party a few years ago, ten days after a triple bypass!

Update 2: August 8 was the monthly Music Night at Gord's. Bruce was out and in fine form - pickin' and grinnin' like he'd never had his hand cut open. In fact, after Music Night finished at about 11PM we stayed around and played until after 1AM.

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