Bach Prelude in B minor BWV 869

My family enjoys riding horses. Here are my daughter Sabine and me on a ride this summer in the Salt River Range in Wyoming. My horse, Fritz, is pictured on the left.

Unfortunately, while Sabine and I were catching our horses last month, Fritz spun 180 degrees and mule-kicked me with both hind legs, metal shoes and all. His right hoof got my leg—no fracture but a bad bone bruise. His left hoof got my hand. I suffered three midshaft metacarpal fractures, index, middle, and ring fingers.

Here are the x-rays, from the emergency room that night on the left and after surgery on the right. I'm told there was significant comminution, where the bones broke into several fragments, creating gaps at the fractures. I was fortunate to find one of the top hand surgeons in the country, Dr. Brady Evans at Stanford. He used three screws to repair the metacarpals. I owe my hand, my art, and much more to this wonderful surgeon and the amazing team at the Orthopaedic Clinic at Stanford. I could not be more thankful.

After the surgery, I visited Fritz in our pasture. He came up to me, muzzled his head next to mine, and then sniffed my cast. Maybe he was saying sorry.

They removed my splint a few days ago, and I started basic physical therapy on my hand. It turns out that playing piano is some of the best exercise for the recovery of fractured hands.

Today, sixteen days after surgery, I recorded Bach's Prelude in B minor BWV 869, the last from his WTC book 1. It's not clean, yet still Bach. I chose this piece because it's delicate enough to avoid real exertion at this stage in my recovery, while holding two voices in one hand requires independence, stretching, finger substitutions, and sustained pitches—all useful for physical therapy. Oh, and you can see Sabine's dog Peanut in the background.