Ebbie,

I've experienced finger pain in the left hand before and I sympathize. Best advice from me is do the dishes by hand.
Every meal do the dishes when you are done with the water as hot as you can stand. And at sometime go to a large pharmacy and get a pressure glove of the type used for burns and wear it after you play.

And cotrary to many statments here I'd continue to play everyday but in extreme moderation. Don't lose the flexibility you now have because of total inactivity. I have stories about muscular atrophy you don't want to hear.

Don