Posted by Wade on June 09, 2003 at 14:48:39:
In Reply to: Sick but played the gig anyways posted by Phil Golson on June 08, 2003 at 23:12:30:
A few:
1. Had to play four rehearsals and a performance of Russian Easter Overture, Sheherezade, and Tchaik 5 with pneumonia that had almost hospitalized me the prior week. I was no longer contagious according to my Doc, but I still had a very high fever that was constantly breaking while playing, causing me to shake badly with violent chills. The conductor could see my bell shaking a bit while I counted rests. Worse, at the first rehearsal, I was on Guyafinison (ouch! spelling...) to keep me quiet and prevent me from hacking up lots of congestion. And I am QUITE allergic to iodine, which is present in a rather large percentage in that particular cough suppressant. Thirty minutes into the first rehearsal, I get tunnel vision, go pale, and my temp drops to 89°F and I nearly drop the tuba and slide out of my chair. Had to go to the Emergency Room, but made it to work the next evening.
2. Four of the brass and two woodwinds all had some horrible 21 day flu. It was one where you feel like death for three days, good for two, and back to death, over and over again. None of us could shake it totally. We had several of us on stage drinking cough medicine while playing. I killed two small bottles over the course of the concert and was quite loopy the whole time. And all of that cough syrup gave me some trouble later that night...
3. Truly Stupid Award Winner for 1996 - I rub my eyes a lot while sleeping during the Spring due to my rotten allergies. One night, prior to the first of three days of pairs of Children's Concerts, I had gouged my right cornea with the edge of my finger nail. When I awoke, I was in a bit of pain, but as the wound was exposed to air (or fresh tears?) the pain grew to agony. I drove downtown to our hall, played the first performance, a located an RN that was subbing in the orchestra. She took me back to the dressing rooms, stuck my head under a sink and irrigated my eye and told me of the scratch on the surface. She treated me as best she could with our paltry first aid supplies and told the Music Director that I needed to go to the Emergency Room ASAP. And he said "Certainly, right after the second performance." Then the Union got involved and demanded that I be released right away without financial penalty and taken to the hospital. He relented, but I played the show anyway. I wore a giant gauze head bandage and eye patch, put my burning head down on my bell when not playing, had massive tears flowing from beneath the bandage, played pretty well and was driven to the hospital afterwards. Years later, when one of those kids in the audience for that particular performance took up the tuba and ended up in my living room for his first lesson, he said "Are you the same man that wore the white thing on your head and was crying and napping at that concert I saw downtown? You were pretty funny!"
Wade