So I played a Thanksgiving service...

[MileMarkerZero]

at my church this past Sunday, even though I wasn't feeling particularly good. Rehearsal from 3-5, service from 6-8.

I was recovering from a sinus/ear infection, and woke up Sunday with the infection feeling like it had moved into my chest. I've played with bronchitis before, no big deal. I made it through the gig, and garnered some nice comments on the Kalison. Lucky I had it, because I could never really fill up all the way with air, and the efficiency of the horn carried me.

Monday morning, I woke up and felt like I was breathing through a coffee stirrer. A bit of a rash, and I decided that I was likely having an allergic reaction to my antibiotics. So off to the doctor's office I went.

She put the stethoscope to by back, and as soon as I took a breath, she said "Yeek!" which I took to be a bad sign. A chest x-ray confirmed: significant pneumonia in the left lung, with a small area in the right. She said another 6 hours and I would have had to have been sent to the hospital. She debated it as it was.

Anyone else ever done that? Played a gig, and then found out just how sick you really were when you did it? If I had even imagined that I had pneumonia Sunday morning, there's no way I would have done the gig.

But on the other hand, it was a great "in the trenches" lesson on how under-blowing the Kalison can reap nice benefits...

[roughrider]

Five years ago, our community band played in the annual town Christmas concert. I had not been feeling well, however I did the usual "suck it up princess" routine and played anyway. The next day I went to the doctor and after an x-ray told me that I had a collapsed lung! This caused me to miss fourteen days of work as I ended un with pnuemonia as well. Next time, they go without the tuba!

[sloan]

Anyone else ever done that? Played a gig, and then found out just how sick you really were when you did it? If I had even imagined that I had pneumonia Sunday morning, there's no way I would have done the gig.

Yup. A few years ago I had a Wednesday concert and a Saturday concert. Wednesday was in town; Saturday required an hour's drive. On Wednesday, I was not well. My temp was high, but I played. On Saturday, I was no better. If the gig had been in town, I might have played, but the thought of making the drive was too much.

So, I called a cab and headed for the ER. I was admitted instantly. The next day, my wife was visiting. I had just finished giving her a list of things that needed to be done (most important was that I had not yet made up the exam that was supposed to be administered at 8am Monday morning). All of a sudden, I didn't look so good. My wife went out to fetch the nurse, and when the nurse came in the first thing she did was hit the big blue button on the wall.

A week later, I woke up with tubes everywhere. 2 days after that, I was sent home with an oxygen tank (later, they delivered a nice machine that makes oxygen enriched air with a pump and a big pile of sand). A month later I was back to 100%.

Now, if my temp hits 101.5F, I'm *in* the doctor's office. If I'm out of town, I self-prescribe a course of antibiotics (I travel with a Z-Pack - with the grudging blessing of my GP).

Oh yeah - my students all got their exam, and perfectly reasonable grades based on my computer files (all done while I was unconscious).

DO NOT mess around with your health - especially if involves your lungs (well...duh!)

If I had gone to the doc on Wednesday, I could have played Wednesday...and Saturday...and the other performances over the next month. If I had made the wrong choice on Saturday, there's an excellent chance I would have been dead. As it was, I understand that the odds they gave my wife were 60-40 ... against.

This was years before they opened me up and gave my heart a new valve - the pneumonia (+sepsis) was more serious and scarier.

[Søren]

Yep, basically the same as the people that have replied so far.

I had a streetparade gig that I could not miss ( it was too late for me to find a replacement, and I do not let the whole band down ). A couple of hours before the gig, I went to the x-ray clinic, had my picture taken and went directly to the train station and left for the gig. It turned out (the next day when my doctor had a look at the pictures) that there was serious pneumonia in both my lungs, and that my breathing capacity was extremely low. Like bloke, my body went on "autopilot" and the gig went fine.