Blink-182 star Travis Barker played drums at two concerts with blood clots in his arms because he hadn't received a proper diagnosis.
The All the Small Things hitmakers were forced to postpone two of their Las Vegas residency shows in mid-June (18) after the drummer was diagnosed with blood clots in both arms, and it was later confirmed he was also battling a staph infection, which affects the skin.
The 42-year-old has finally opened up to fans about his health battle, sharing a video titled "Travis Barker - Road to Recovery" on his YouTube channel. In the description, he revealed how bad the situation was.
"It's been the longest four weeks without playing drums. I played through two shows in Vegas with (an) infection and blood clots before I was able to get a clear diagnosis from a doctor. Here's an update on my road to recovery," he wrote.
In the video, Barker can be seen telling his bandmates backstage, while sat with a pack of ice on his arm, that something is wrong with him, but he can't figure out what.
"I can bleed through shows, I've played with (a) broken foot, broken arms... something's up," he added, before a text flashed up on the screen to explain that they were "unable to obtain" a proper medical diagnosis before the show and that he decided to carry on performing.
He also has the camera follow him to an appointment with Dr. Raj, who checks over his arm and feels the clots and assures Barker that his infection isn't as "worrisome" as before and his clots aren't deep so they won't spread to the lungs.
However, he instructed him to stay away from drumming because the aggressive motion of playing the instrument will "aggravate inflammation in your arm and then you're gonna have this perpetual cycle of inflammation".
"You're on thinners... there's an issue of propagating bleeds too, so acutely at this point now, this is not the right time to go crazy in terms of drumming but ultimately soon we'll get you back onboard," he said.
The doctor then instructed him to take steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, undertake gentle physiotherapy and continue taking blood thinners and antibiotics before visiting him again the following week.
