"Google It"

Problem:

My senior recital is in 2 weeks and 3 days.

For the past week, give or take a few days, I have been experiencing pain through my underarm, wrist, and fingers. My fingers feel alternately numb or in discomfort and pain. It seems to be focused around the third and fourth fingers (ring and pinky). The pain is aggravated by playing my violin, typing, writing, etc. Sometimes it seems to be doing better, and other times it makes me crawl in bed wanting to cry. Either way, it's very hard not to worry and stress, with my recital coming up so soon. I was stressed about my recital even before this problem arose, but stressed in an "I can practice as much as I want to and be ready for this" kind of way, not in a "Things are totally outside of my control and all I can do it rest and see how things feel in the next few days" way.

I saw a doctor here at the student health center, and he told me - you won't believe it - to "Google it." Yes, really. He had no help or advice to offer beyond that.

I would be so sad if I couldn't play my recital - especially since my parents and little brother have already bought their plane tickets to come!

I have a lesson in an hour. I'm going to talk to my teacher and see what he thinks I should do.

In addition to my approaching recital, I am supposed to play in a concert in Symphony Hall tomorrow. Fortunately, the music isn't fast or very difficult, but I'd like to be pain-free and be able to play it well.