Welp, last night was a new experience for us at practice.
(Warning: Looooong read!!) 
Our original drummer has been back in the band for a few months now, fully locked and loaded.
It's been awesome.
We got through the Holidays, and last night was our second full practice since taking
a break for Christmas. Everyone seems stoked, and is playing well. It;s fun as hell! We are
even working up a few oddball tunes, and pushing the boundaries of what we do. Never
thought we'd be working on some Toto.
Practice was over. Drummer had left. The rest of us are hanging out and packing up around 9PM.
Our singer is on my side of the room, in a chair, and we are having a conversation about food.
Grilling and smoking meats. I hear a thud. Loud! Turn around. He is on the ground all seized up and
unconscious. The property owner/friend/other guitarist goes over and starts to try to talk to him.
Nothing! He's gone. After about 15 seconds he comes to. Fucking hell, he is conscious again!
We get him on his back, and he lays on the ground of the garage floor. He has good color in his
face and I check his extremities for warmth and blood flow. All good. He starts to talk and thinks
he should have eaten something and maybe he is just tired and hypoglycemic. We finally get him
on his feet and back into the chair he was sitting in. Thank goodness!
What a relief! We all kind of start up with some jokes and humour to defuse the situation. BOOM!
He falls and goes unconscious again. No shit! This time foaming at the mouth and making weird
gurgling sounds. WTF!!! Full panic sets in!
He doesn't come back as fast this time and we are REALLY freaking out now. We get him on his side,
so he doesn't choke on any fluid in his mouth, or anything that came up from his stomach. He finally comes
to. Then the property owner/other guitarist in the band goes down. He's freaking out! Two of my best friends
and fellow bandmates are on the floor in our practice space unconscious! What the hell is going on!
Property owner's wife calls 911 immediately. Is this freaking Zombie Apocalypse finally happening? WTH!!??
Things are REALLY anxious now. The wife is on 911 and they are asking her questions. They tell us to open
all doors and windows and get some ventilation in there.
In the meantime I call the singer's wife. She's on the way! Along with EMS, and the Fire Department!
911 thinks it may be a gas leak.
Luckily one of our non-musician friends was there with his wife, and he helped me get the singer and other
guitarist on their feet. We put the singer into his truck. It was raining cats and dogs and was like 35F! outside.
Get the other guitarist into his home. Wife is keeping an eye on him inside. She comes back outside and
tells us that 911 said to make sure and keep the singer awake and not to let him go to sleep!
Roads are shit and covered in ice. We are very remote and it takes EMS and the Fire Dept 35 to 40 minutes to
get there. 911 tells us all not to inhabit the garage anymore.
Getting soaked in the rain while we wait. Fire Trucks and 2 Ambulances show, along with the Police and a couple
of Volunteer Firefighters who showed up in their personal vehicles.
Singer is the worst off, and he gets put in the Ambulance. They leave for the Hospital. Other EMS goes inside the
house and checks on the other guitarist. They rest of us seem fine. No headaches. No nausea. No loss of consciousness.
Then the singer's wife shows up freaking the fuck out. Since we had a lot of snow, and the ground is frozen, the
rain that is falling turns to ice when it hits the road. It's brutal. I end up following the wife out and to the Hospital to
make sure she gets there.
My friend told me the Firefighters checked out the garage. Earlier he and I shut off the gas to an heater that was being used,
and they think that may have been the culprit. Either CO poisoning, or a natural gas leak, or a bit of both.
Texted with the singer today and they had him Oxygen at the Hospital last night for 4 hours. And he had elevated CO
levels in his blood.
Fucking hell, we could have all gotten really fucked up last night. What if all of us passed out at the same time and
no one was conscious to help the others?
Yeah, I am still freaked the F out! We've jammed in an heated space (wood, fuel oil, propane, natural gas) and never
had any issues before. Just goes to show you don't know when they will happen, and that shit can kill you before
you even know what is going on.
So grateful it wasn't worse. So grateful.
Oh, and have CO detectors installed in all of your living/work spaces if you use ANY kind of heat!!!!
