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About My Left Hand |
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On February 5, 1975, I suffered an extremely scary hand injury in an accident at the People's Warehouse, the main distributor for the Food Cooperative system in the Midwest. |
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Four of the five fingers on my left hand had their main flexing tendons completely severed by broken glass. The glass sliced across the flesh of my wrist, separating the tendon ends, which snapped deep into the palm of my hand and the flesh of my forearm, to be later reattached by Dr. Ramon B. Gustilo at the Hennepin County Medical Center. The first thing I noticed was that my ulnar artery had been sliced clean thru, because my blood was pumping straight out of my left wrist onto the floor. |
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CLICK HERE
to see a
diagram of the
wound |
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This happened in an instant; the blink of an eye. I was handling a large glass container, moving it around to take inventory for the Red Star Apothecary and the surface of the jar compromised, shattering in my hands. The shards came within two cells of severing my ulnar nerve, which would have crippled my thumb. |
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Physical Rehab Forever |
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Tracy Lea in 1975 |
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I grew up in a bluegrass household, a real hillbilly atmosphere with instruments everywhere. I also got to take violin lessons as well as dance lessons as a child. Playing and singing were part of my life and I played guitar incessantly during my recuperation from the accident. |
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For along time I didn't progress much beyond the stage I was at when the injury happened. My Yamaha Hummingbird was stolen while I was dancing in the park and I didn't get another.
By the fifth anniversary of my injury, I had regained my ability to do cartwheels and handstands, I was studying martial arts at Ajay's Karate and roller skating alot. But I didn't play guitar at all. |
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Tracy Lea in 1969 |
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Ten years after my injury, I started fronting bands, and, by 1990, 15 years after I cut off my hand, I was playing bass as well as singing so that I could control the repertoire. |
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On February 5th, 1995, the 20th anniversary of my wrist injury, I went to New York and played bass at CBGB's, and came home with a live recording of guitarist Craig Barr's song, "Searching." Barr recruited a friend of his, Don Stroffolino, to play drums for us that night. Stroffolino is now drumming for Blue Law, which features Andy Powell, guitarist of Wishbone Ash. |
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Tracy Lea in 1985 |
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CLICK HERE
to hear the recording at CBGB's in 1995 |
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In 2000, on the 25th anniversary of my injury, I performed in a web cast from The Nethouse Caf� and got the first video of me playing bass while doing a backbend. |
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CLICK HERE
to see the 2000 video on YouTube |
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During the summer before the 30th anniversary of my injury, I performed the song "Searching" with guitarist Tim Dupraz at a benefit for Larry Stork after a tragic fire destroyed his motorcycle collection. Larry used to drive bus for James Solberg and I opened for Solberg's band at that party. I had just begun working seriously to play electric guitar, both rhythm and leads; letting someone else play bass and working on new hand strengths. I can hear my hand collapsing long before the song is over in the 2004 recording. |
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CLICK HERE
to hear the 2004 recording |
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I am very grateful to Dr. Ramon B. Gustilo and his team for their excellent work in 1975. A lifetime of conscientious physical therapy allows me to continue to play music.
My devotion to the art of bodybuilding and lifetime fitness stems from my experience with stabilizing my left hand so that I can do the things I do and so that I can rock for hours at a time. It has been a difficult struggle and it will always be something I have to deal with but I'm so happy that I still play guitar, that I can do what I am working on right now, that's all that matters to me and I'm very thankful for it. |
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This page last modified on
February 6, 2008
� 1985-2008 Tracy Lea Landis.
All rights reserved. |
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Return to Tracy Lea Landis Music Website |
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