Well, in twelve hours I go under the knife in an attempt to rectify nearly forty years of overplaying..
 
I am having one of the joints in my right hand thumb fused (due to "Gamekeepers' Thumb").
 
How much this will affect my playing is anyone's guess.  The surgeon thinks that I should be able to compensate for the reduced movement - I am beyond petrified.
 
Not only is music (guitar and piano especially) my passion, but also the means of putting food on my family's table.
 
In the grand scheme of things it is trivial, I guess - not life threatening, but worries me more than the spinal surgery I had when I broke my back.  Priorities, eh?
 
 

Good luck and the best of wishes! I think your playing will be just fine!

Start playing again as soon as possible. I had carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand and they said it would be 6 weeks until I was right again. I started playing guitar within 24 hours, very gently. I was back at work in 1 week and had a great recovery. I'm sure that using the hand right away had a huge effect on a speedy recovery.
 
Best of luck, don't worry.

Thanks for your kind words Bayoubill and John.
 
The surgeon said that I shouldn't play for six weeks, and it would take three months+ (and a lot of physio) before I was anywhere back to full speed.
 
When I first saw him, he said he said that treating professional musicians was always difficult, and I should rest if he told me to.  His words were - "Rest, to a professional musician, is only playing five hours a day instead of seven."  Made me smile.
 
I assured him that I would not be like that..
 
I have only taken seventeen days off from the Music Academy where I teach (Xmas & New Year, basically), so it didn't take me long to ignore his advice. 

I understand how this can be a huge source of worries for a guitar player.
 
 
I threw a few punches for fun recently and I seem to have somehow messed up the same shoulder/arm that was injured in the car accident last year. It never healed 100% and never will, but letting go on a punching bag, w/o even warming up, really didn't help.
 
While it's not too painful, I think there's a nerve messed up somewhere and as a result, the thumb of my right hand feels funny - a bit weak. It's pretty amazing how the slightest thing can impact your playing...
 
Anyway - best of luck, my friend.

Good luck! 
 
(I was going to say that actually next Tuesday is the day, since that's my birthday, but the internal topic was too serious so I chose not to mention it.  )

Good luck. Jerry Garcia had to completely relearn how to play guitar after his coma. Django Reinhardt lost 3 of his fingers in a fire and look how his playing turned out. If you have to play, you'll play one way or the other even if you don't heal fully. 
 
When I had skin cancer a few years back they removed a lymph node from my armpit as a precaution and the surgeon told me that there was a chance that the associated nerve damage might affect my guitar playing. I too was petrified. But in the end it didn't make much difference. My arm feels kind of weird sometimes and I get some numbness but it all turned out well. I'm sure you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about in a few weeks. 

I'm pretty sure it's due to damage caused by diabetes, but I'm getting an increasing numbness in my little finger (fretting hand)
 
It's not hampering my playing yet but I do worry what happens if it spreads.
 
Best wishes JB, hope you make a speedy & sustained recovery.

My thoughts will be with you JB.  Please have a speedy recovery. 

Our human nature has a good built in mechanism to adjust to circumstances and various situations.....with a little time to recover, you'll be back to your keys and guitars. Best of luck JB.