Dichroic Reflections

the hands of the mummy

Since coming back home and back to rowing, I have been going through so much skin
tape that my local drugstore employees may think I'm into bondage. Hell, maybe I
am, but it's self bondage -- I only tape up my own hands and feet. For some
reason, I seem to be attracted to pursuits that just wreck my hands, from
gymnastics in high school (ripped flaps of skin with chalk ground in) to guitar in
college (calluses on the fingertips) to rock climbing (rips flaps of skin with
chalk ground in, plus scrapes, abrasions, and very tired hands) to rowing (ripped
flaps of skin (but no chalk), peeling calluses, and blisters). I don't know how
rowers who sleep with nonrowers keep from grossing them out. T's hands are
rougher than mine, so that's not a problem, but we do have to be careful -- sharp
edges of skin can hurt!

I have gotten good at taping my hands -- the
tape has to be tight enough to stay put, loose enough to let joints bend. The
hardest spot to tape is ripped-off calluses at the base of fingers -- I end up
going around the whole palm, then a couple of strips between the fingers, then
more around the palm to hold that on. The strips between the fingers keep the
around-the-hand part from sliding down my palm. This results in about 2' of tape
used to cover an owie the size of a kernel of corn, but it's the only way I know
to get the tape to stay put. Finger blisters are much easier; just wrap tape
around the finger a few times.

I only wear tape while rowing, to
avoid further damage or pain; if I need to cover spots during the rest of the
time, either to prevent pain or to keep Neosporin on so it heals faster, band-aids
work well enough, and are much less conspicuous. T, on the other hand, seems to
enjoy wearing taped hands to work, presumably to show how hard-core he is. (Since
he hasn't taken a break, his hands are tougher than mine, but do still blister
when he switches between sweep and sculling.)

I haven't had to tape
my feet for awhile, but my hands still often look like something out of a horror
flick. The Mummy, to be precise.