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Playing While Sick?

#22
I took two weeks off last year due to bronchitis. I cancelled most practices except one right before the gig. Played the gig but felt weird because there are some people at my job that follow us. Luckily nobody from work showed up but I know they knew I had a gig. I showed up for work the following work day but then took another week off I was so sick. Being sick sucks. My son is sick this morning so I called in from work today so I can take him to the doctor.
 
#24
Hmmm,

1. I've been fired from a gig because I got Mono
2. Had a gig with a 102.5 degree fever. Played the 2nd set sitting on a stool and the 3rd laying down behind the stage out of sight. Only a few fans so wasn't too obvious
3. About 15 years ago played my set then spent every 15 minutes in the head for the next 3 hours until my freaking guitar player took me home...

You can get through anything for a few hours....
 
#25
i walked out of the ER drove north of milwaukee & played a blues fest. horrible horrible day. i even canceled the 2 gigs the previous 2 days just to get some rest. i am pretty sure advair is poison & my doctor was trying to kill me.
 
#26
Just spent the whole december month on a gig with a VERY bad back.

They were 2 X 90 minutes sets. You know the feeling when you can't stand up or be seated and all your basses are 9 pounds too heavy......

Hope to not experience that anymore......:atoz:
 
#27
Time Consumer said:
Wow, even if you dont play metal, that was effin METAL man!
Click to expand...

I dont play metal, Im not even all that into metal, but still I take that as a compliment. Thanks.

Though on the other side of the coin, about 10 months ago my improv band had a gig and I was really sick with the flu. I didnt have it in me to stand up, let alone hold my bass, so I pussed out and called in sick. There were two guitarists, and one of them played bass, and the drummer pulled off some spoken word vocals, but I should have been there. But for the life me, I just couldnt get up.
 
#28
For throat/cold/flu sickness I drink a ton of green tea and honey, then also a half-shot of Creme de Menthe or peppermint schnapps whenever I'm having difficulty singing. Numbs back of the throat and seems to give you a little more to "push" off of. After a while, you get just enough of a buzz to not feel quite as sick.
 
#32
I went to the orthepedist on Wednesday about a right shoulder issue thats been bothering me. He took x-rays, and then told me to get an MRI. Soon. Nearest appointment would have been next Friday. On Friday in school, while just lifting my right arm, I felt a snap, and then incredible pain. Back to the doctors, where he took another x-ray( he was concerned that I broke a bone, judging by my arms condition in the first X-ray). No broken bone but he told me there was a mass growing on the bone that he ws "concerned" about. He also told me that I should not lift anything heavy as I ran the risk of breaking the bone. My son came with me as my "arm" to move my stuff for the 2 clubdates I did on Saturday. Had to lower my strap all the way and move my hand position up the neck in order to just play a note. Really uncomfortable, both physically and for my technique. And my arm was mucho sore by the time I finished my 8 hours of gigs. One more to do this evening, I hope I last. I'm still in real pain.
 
#33
Man i hope everything works out OK for you..



jgsbass said:
I went to the orthepedist on Wednesday about a right shoulder issue thats been bothering me. He took x-rays, and then told me to get an MRI. Soon. Nearest appointment would have been next Friday. On Friday in school, while just lifting my right arm, I felt a snap, and then incredible pain. Back to the doctors, where he took another x-ray( he was concerned that I broke a bone, judging by my arms condition in the first X-ray). No broken bone but he told me there was a mass growing on the bone that he ws "concerned" about. He also told me that I should not lift anything heavy as I ran the risk of breaking the bone. My son came with me as my "arm" to move my stuff for the 2 clubdates I did on Saturday. Had to lower my strap all the way and move my hand position up the neck in order to just play a note. Really uncomfortable, both physically and for my technique. And my arm was mucho sore by the time I finished my 8 hours of gigs. One more to do this evening, I hope I last. I'm still in real pain.
Click to expand...
 
#35
I once played a gig with a temporary stand-in guitarist that had a huge ugly red strawberry on his forehead. He said he fell though a glass coffee table. He was loopy. I had to shout the chords to him all night. Funny cuz he had on a superman shirt.
 
#36
The worst I ever had on stage was the flu, and I'm surprised I made it through the gig without passing out or barfing. I had a fever, though I have no idea how high it was. Surprisingly, I was pretty active that night, and we all had a good performance.
 
#37
I don't often come in the Gig Humor section on TB, but this post caught my eye. I was not sure if I wanted to post, but here you go.

Having played for over 35 years, I have played simple sick (cold, flu, etc.) many a time. Aspirin, coffee and maybe even some comforting liquor on occasion got me through :cool:. I even remember having the flu with a pretty high fever once, and using the above treatment method (aspirin, coffee, alcohol), actually seemed to burn the fever right outta me after 4 solid sets in a club on the north side of Chicago. I walked away from that gig feeling pretty good!

Having said that, nothing in my experience compares to this. In 2001, at age 45, I was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer (stage 4a if you know your Dukes staging levels - about 25% odds to live). Quite a shock. I had immediate surgery to remove the tumor and was out for about 4 weeks while I healed up. Then I had to face 18 weeks of chemo. The bands I played in at the time were very cool and asked what I wanted to do. Well, I told them all that I wanted, NEEDED, to play and so they agreed to go along, as long as I could hack it.

Now, I don't know if any of you have ever had the pleasure of chemo, but it does totally kick your a**, and I was no exception. But, I played through every frackin' week of those treatments, even the truly hard final weeks (chemo effects are cumulative) - puking between sets, losing my hair, getting baaad skinny, and and generally feeling reeaally nasty. But, I am here today to say that the playing, the music and the cats in the bands I played with actually got me through that difficult time and I am still here, 7 years later, to tell the story. I never felt so blessed to be a musician and a bassplayer, and will never give it up - being a bass player is tapping into the real core of life.

So count your blessings kids and play on!

fyi - the pic in my sig comes from one of the many full body x-rays I had after diagnosis - one of the techs let me have a jpeg copy. makes a good hallow'een window hanging :)
 
#38
I wasn't sick but I hit my head on a van door (don't ask) when I was touring once and had to play with a concussion for two night stint somewhere in Oregon. Apparently I played the shows no problem but I don't remember ever having played them.
 
#39
I played sick with a fever way back once in the early 90's and sat on a chair for the entire set. The worst part was being the butt of every joke into the mic from my bandmates all night. "He was too lazy to play guitar, so he chose the bass instead. Now he's so lazy he plays sitting in a f****** chair!"
 
#40
It's not the same as being sick, but this week I got a nose bleed on stage. Worst part is that I didn't hit my nose or anything, my nose just started to bleed. I think was the heat on stage or something that set it off. I was lucky that it happened in a break where I didn't have to play for about a minute or so, so I had the time to turn my back to the crowd, take my handkerchief and stop the bleed. After the gig, I turned to some friends, and they didn't even notice it.

I think I should see a doctor about this. I don't want this to happen in the middle of a song where I have to chose between playing and get covered in blood or totally mess up my part to stop the bleed.
 

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