In 10th-grade marching band I got a ganglion cyst on my right wrist. It was my first year getting to play snare and I practiced day and night, I ended up not telling the percussion director about it because I didn't want him to move my ass back to cymbals LOL. I went to a doctor who drained it. But it was some serious pain, any pressure on my wrist and it felt like my arm wrist was on fire.
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!!!!