Wow! Thanks for all of the wonderfully practical advice! Sadly, extension is only one of the culprits. Almost any movement at all can trigger considerable amounts of pain. Even riding as a passenger in a car traversing a relatively smooth road can be a problem. Walking, even without swinging my arms, is also a negative experience.

I will try using a capo tonight when Carmen and I will attempt to play some music together (for the first time in more than two months). I'll let you know how that works.

The next step for me is to undergo some sort of conductivity test. I suspect this will not be unlike the sort of thing electricians do to test a wire's integrity. I imagine they will send an electrical impulse between my spinal column and my fingertips to discover the quality of the nerve's transmission capability. Dunno. I guess I'll find out more when they do it on 5 November.

I hesitate (for fear of jinxing it) to admit that today has thus far been almost pain free. I don't understand why, but will not attempt to analyze such progress until I know more about what I have done right. What I do know is that this is necessarily temporary because the underlying cause of the condition is completely organic. Anyway, I am enjoying the day so far.