Me: I used to play trombone.
Other Person: Zzzzzzzz.
There was something disgusting I used to do with my trombone, though. After blowing into it for a while, the spit would start to build up in its pipes. So when I could hear the spit clogging the instrument (“Brrr-ppppp-brrr-pppp”) I would open the spit valve (right) on the trombone and watch the brassy saliva pour out…usually onto the band room floor!
I never thought about all the germs in that spit, but I SHOULD have. Because I just heard a disturbing NPR report about how those germs can give a player something called “trombone player’s lung.” This is basically a mold that gets in your lungs and tries to kill you.
A doctor named Mark Metersky got some trumpets and trombones from musicians to study and see if they had similar germs. What happened?
“Things plopped out," Metersky says. “It was disgusting. Imagine the worst thing you've found in your refrigerator in food that you've left for a few months, and that was coming out of these instruments.”
Oh. Yuck.
AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! (hint: not a good start to a letter... or a date for that matter)
ReplyDeleteThis confirms I am going to die. Maybe not today but probably within the next 50 or 60 years for sure!!
I, too, grew up playing 'instruments' including trumpet and what must be even worse for germs that the trombone, the 'French Horn'.
I mean, to get the spit out of those, you had to turn it clockwise or counter-clockwise and try to roll the spit out. But of course since its basically just a curly-cue (Q?) half the spit comes out and half would go even DEEPER into the damn thing.
So again AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!! (which is come to think of it, not such a bad way to end a date)