Worst injuries or sickness you've had and you still played?

[Stroman]

I played a gig less then a week after a hemorrhoid surgery

I bet THAT was a pain in the... throne.

 

[roncadillac]

I bet THAT was a pain in the... throne.

I wasn't great haha. This situation involved the band I currently play with being the 'backing band' for a bunch of local hip hop artists so it was a lot of steady 4/4 backbeat stuff without much else required by me. If was actually a fun show regardless of my personal circumstances but I certainly was feeling it the next day.

 

[rhumbagirl]

For some reason, I never let a scrape on a knuckle stop me from continuing on. Usually happens playing someone else's kit. And I don't understand how the body heals in that situation. This is dirty metal that a lot of other people are touching with their own bacteria and fungi. Especially cymbals. And no, I don't recall any conscious effort to wash my hands during the break, although I probably do because it's a typical restroom break, so maybe that's it.

To answer the OP, I had an infected knuckle on the middle finger of my dominant hand. I played the rehearsal and was told by our frontman to go get it fixed before I return next time. I think it took 6 weeks for me to fully recover from that injury. I probably over attended to the thing by soaking it every few hours in scalding hot salty water**. Every week I'd call home to mom and ask her to pray that I wouldn't lose my finger - the middle finger on a match grip is pretty necessary.

**EDIT: If you soak a finger too frequently, it starts to turn white and looks real dead to the naked eye.

 

[PorkPieGuy]

Mine was a migraine during a church gig. I thought that it went well considering. But when I got the recording of the music the following week, to my surprise, I totally screwed up the beginning of a song and didn't even realize it. The guitar started the song and when the time came for me to join in, well, I had placed the backbeat on the downbeat and downbeat on the backbeat. The other musicians picked up relatively quickly the fact that I was off and they changed their rhythm to match with me. They never said anything, and if it wasn't recorded I wouldn't have known that I messed up at all.

I've played A LOT of church gigs sick and hurt. The worst was I got the flu on Easter Sunday. At the time, I was the only drummer for a congregation of about 500. Man, it sucked so freakin' bad and missing was not an option on that day.

 

[jefforr]

Broken right hand. Cast on at an outdoor gig about 25 years ago. I shoved the stick down in between the hand and the cast and played away. Don’t remember it being too bad of a gig but I remember the hand was sore the next day and had to take lots of pain meds for a few days.

 

[drumnut87]

did my right ankle in after tripping over. was told to rest my foot for 4 weeks, instead of cancelling my gigs, i readjusted my setup so i played left foot on bass drum, snare and toms were set up for a right handed kit, had two hi hats, one i could adjust on the fly, and one permanantly partially-open.

 

[force3005]

I played a gig less then a week after a hemorrhoid surgery

Did you have a well padded throne or a doughnut to sit on ?

 

[roncadillac]

Did you have a well padded throne or a doughnut to sit on ?

I have a Tama round rider xl, it has a very wide and thick cushion. It still wasn't fun as far as the sitting part was concerned but the quality throne helped in addition to it being a pretty low key gig.

 

[Nictarine]

actually, my worst "gig" with sickness happened my sophomore year in marching band:

set up the scene: 90ºF day, with about the same humidity; full wool old school band uniforms; unknowing onset of a really bad food poisoning incident...

we had a contest about 2 hours away one Saturday. Showed up to school feeling ok, but a little "gurgly" in my stomach...which was sort of the norm for me back then b/c I ate like crap all the time. So, we got all packed up, got on the busses to go, and got about 45 minutes on the road, and now I am feeling pretty bad, and starting to sweat. Serious cramping and worse gurgling going on in my stomach.

Got to the show site, got off the bus, and by now, I was clammy, knees shaking and just squeezing the cheeks together for dear life, but had no time to go to the bathroom. Strapped on my 45 pounds of tri toms, whose carrier rested right on my stomach. Got in formation to march to the warm up site - for 45 minutes of warm up. My bowels were just screaming now, and I had a really bad headache from clinching my teeth so much. Try to survive warm up, adn the nthe march to the stadium....brutal.

Played the show...brutal...was just crying. soooo much pressure in my gut, and elsewhere. I had told my parents as we went to warm up that I was in bad shape, and that they would need ot grab my drums as soon as I got off the field. So the show ends. As soon as I cross the out of bounds line on the field, I literally threw my drum set at my dad and ran to the bathroom...but I didn't make it...just an explosion of nastiness all over my band uniform, the stall etc..."both exits" were used...

so there I am, stuck in the mess in that stall in some rural little football stadium...pre cell phone. After about 30 minutes, dad came in and checked on me. I told him he was going to have to go get me new clothes and hopefully some Wet Ones to "clean up" with. I alos told him to tell the BD that I wa NOT risding the bus home. There was NO WAY I could be seen after The Incident.

I ended up cleaning up as best as I could, and we got on the road. We stopped at a motel for me to shower for real. I did not know how I was goign to face everyone at school on Monday

Other than my heart attack, that was the sickest I have ever been. Missed 2 weeks of school.

But we won best drumline that day, so it was all worth it!!!!

Damn!!! I was really hoping you at least made it to the bathroom in time! I know how awful those band uniforms can be, I grew up in coastal Texas where it's hot and humid and for some reason, the band uniform is made out of the hottest and itchiest fabric imaginable!

Did anyone in your band know? Luckily your parents were there, mine never gave enough of a shit about my drumming to see me play.

 

[MrLeadFoot]

I did a pretty big-deal worship gig with penumonia once. I was in a fog the whole time, likely due to a little lack of oxygen in my system due to the penumonia. It kind of felt like I was in my own world, which I actually was, being that I use IEMs and was behind a drum shield already.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

Damn!!! I was really hoping you at least made it to the bathroom in time! I know how awful those band uniforms can be, I grew up in coastal Texas where it's hot and humid and for some reason, the band uniform is made out of the hottest and itchiest fabric imaginable!

Did anyone in your band know? Luckily your parents were there, mine never gave enough of a shit about my drumming to see me play.

ohh yeah...the whole band knew...my issues with IBS were notorious so it was sort of not a surprise...plus, I didn't end up riding the bus home. Of course I got made fun of for it, but as mentioned above, it was a known thing...one of my nicknames in band was "Schlitz"...and it was NOT b/c I drank the beer

 

[MrLeadFoot]

ohh yeah...the whole band knew...my issues with IBS were notorious so it was sort of not a surprise...plus, I didn't end up riding the bus home. Of course I got made fun of for it, but as mentioned above, it was a known thing...one of my nicknames in band was "Schlitz"...and it was NOT b/c I drank the beer

So YOU are the girl onstage they have that commercial about nowadays about the medication for IBS or Crohn's Disease, or whatever it is.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

So YOU are the girl onstage they have that commercial about nowadays about the medication for IBS or Crohn's Disease, or whatever it is.

sort of...they know I will be there, but I do sometimes have to delay the beginning of a set

thoughh after I turned 40, it has happened less and less...I KNOW that I eat better now than I did in my 20's and 30's, but nerves will still do a number on my stomach if I am not careful

 

[MrLeadFoot]

sort of...they know I will be there, but I do sometimes have to delay the beginning of a set

thoughh after I turned 40, it has happened less and less...I KNOW that I eat better now than I did in my 20's and 30's, but nerves will still do a number on my stomach if I am not careful

Seriously, though, I am sorry to hear of your troubles. That must really suck!

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

Seriously, though, I am sorry to hear of your troubles. That must really suck!

I have learned to live with it....and recently, it has not been that much of an issue

in the past, I would have to make all plans around how close to restrooms I was. If I could not get to a bathroom within a minute of my stomach gurgling, I would not do something. It made vacationing real interesting, especially b/c I LOVE to backwoods/remote camp and do outdoors stuff

 

[force3005]

ohh yeah...the whole band knew...my issues with IBS were notorious so it was sort of not a surprise...plus, I didn't end up riding the bus home. Of course I got made fun of for it, but as mentioned above, it was a known thing...one of my nicknames in band was "Schlitz"...and it was NOT b/c I drank the beer

I like the cute little nickname and that you can look back and have a little fun about it.

I am glad that it is getting somewhat better. My sister and I both have it but not as bad as you.

 

[Dibalo Jonze]

I've played gigs minus each of my four limbs at some point:

-Left wrist fractured bones
-Left ankle broken
-Right knee ACL repairs
-Dozens without my right hand during recovery from a right hand partial amputation

I hardly play out any more, but other than those every gig I've played since 2007 has been with chronic pain, and limitation, in my right hand.

Focusing on simplicity and the joy of note placement usually saves the day. I spend a lot of time on coordination and sometimes what I call limb-reassignment techniques, and adaptability seems to follow. Necessity is the mother of invention after all, not that I recommend forcing yourself to play while injured or in pain.

 

[Club Date]

I passed a gallstone, or at least began to pass it, during a gig once. Started to feel pretty bad--very bloated, etc., during the first half of the show. Thinking I just had really bad gas, I laid down in my dressing room at intermission, then finished out the gig in a fair amount of discomfort, loaded the car and climbed into the back seat, in a fetal position, until my wife arrived and drove us back to the surgeon’s home where we were staying. The next several hours were, I’ve heard, as close to the pain of giving birth as a man will ever experience. Next morning the doctor asked where the pain had been (and still was) and then told me I’d passed a stone. I could see the evidence of that stone for days afterwards.

Also played a gig four days after prostate cancer surgery. Of course, I played my cocktail kit, standing up!

 

[Oleg Vostyakov]

One time I actually died and I still played the gig.

/s

Died of what?

 

[SVBJECT]

Never drumming, but:
1 - I did lighting for a show having just left my grandads funeral. Was sobbing pretty much the whole way though.
2 - I tore the nerve out of my right index finger and was on stage doing an electronic set a couple of hours later.