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This past year has not been good to me. After 4 operations, the last one, fussing C5-6 and C6-7, I am left with very weak legs and the two outer fingers on my left hand with very little feeling. I am tempted to change a violin to left handed. I think I can work a bow lefty but training my right hand to finger the notes may be harder. I still have hope and pray I can regain some use. I will pop in from time to time.
Good luck to you, Kevin. I've been wondering where you've been. I know the health issues we get with age. I"ve been in and out of hospitals myself for the last 4 years. Prostate cancer, heart stents and now I find out I'm diabetic, I have neuropathy in my feet, Peripheral artery disease in my legs and Myelofibrosis which is a bone marrow disorder. Bone marrow is what makes our blood platelets that clot our blood so we don't bleed to death. A normal platelet range is between 150,000 and 400,000 per ml of blood, Tuesday my platelet count was down to 32,000, up from two weeks prior when it was 19,000. I'm going in the hospital Monday morning to have a roto-root job on my legs and will need a platelet transfusion at he time of the procedure, but no worries about that, the Doctors are more concerned than I.
I didn't mean to hi-jack your thread, but I know what it's like.
I hope you can regain the feeling in your fingers and continue playing.
Good luck to you.
Ken.
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@Kevin M. ,
Best wishes in finding a way to keep playing as much as you want to, whether it be using your left hand for fingering to the extent possible or switching to a reverse-configured violin.
Back in May I started experimenting with a left-handed violin because arthritis (something new for me) was leaving me with only a few hours of left-hand finger flexibility on most days. For me, it was quite difficult to switch sides, even though I am most definitely at a beginner level. It felt like I was playing a completely different and new stringed instrument; I may as well have started bouzouki, as so little seemed to transfer from right-handed to left-handed violin. I think the biggest difficulty was in simply getting a good hold - the chin rest that came with the left-handed violin didn't fit well (though it was carved to fit a left-handed violin), and the shoulder rest just didn't seem to fit properly even after adjusting it endlessly. I think if I go back to the left-handed violin, I will definitely try another chin rest and a different shoulder rest.
Fortunately, the arthritis meds seem to be working well now. There is still stiffness in the mornings, but I seem to have decent flexibility in the afternoons and evenings, so I am sticking with right-handed fingering for now. Every now and then I still pull out the left-handed violin to give it a try! It is really like playing a completely different instrument.
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I've definitely missed hearing from you Kevin. All the respect in the world if you go that route (left hand violin). I do believe you can do it with your will power.
I lost the feeling in my left thumb after cutting it half way through once, so I can relate just a tiny bit. I realize that what you are going through is many times worse but loosing feeling/nerves is a terrible feeling.
Thanks for the update. 
Is it possible that the nerve damage is temporary? The feelings in my thumb came back after 6 months.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Sorry to hear about the problems there @kevin-m - with your enthusiasm and drive, I'm convinced you'll find a way back - best wishes !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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