After postponing four dates on his farewell tour of North America earlier this month, Ozzy Osbourne has opened up about the "multiple infections" that kept him sidelined.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Osbourne revealed that a trio of staph infections in his right thumb had caused his digit to swell to "the size of a fuckin' lightbulb." Though the rock legend felt fine otherwise, he went to the ER for the advice of a medical professional.
"I didn't feel sick, so I was cracking jokes," Osbourne told the magazine. "The doctor said, 'I don't know if you realize, Mr. Osbourne, this is a very serious problem you have.' Sharon said, 'Would you stop fucking making jokes?' So I said, 'Well, it's my hand.'"
Doctors discovered that one of the three staph infections had also spread to Osbourne's middle finger. Ensuing surgery led doctors to freeze Osbourne's thumb before putting it under the knife.
"You put your thumb in front of your face on your right hand, they went in by the side of the nail on the left side for the flesh under the nail," Osbourne recalled. "They cut all this stuff out. Even with the numbing stuff, it was agony. It wasn't pus, but it was the stage after pus, when it gets in the blood and goes in your body and fucking kills you."
When he asked the doctor how he could have become infected — let alone three times over — Osbourne recalled, "The doctor said to me, 'Can you remember talking to someone and shaking hands?' Well, I do that meet and greet at the gig and I must shake fucking 200 hands a day. He said, 'That explains it.'"
Following surgery, doctors put Osbourne on drip and pill antibiotics. He stayed in hospital for a little under a week, heading home with medical soap to soak his hand in twice a day for 10 days.
"I haven't been able to do anything," he told Rolling Stone of his life at home. "I'm right-handed. You can't wipe your own ass. And I didn't have many fucking volunteers who would do it for me."
You can read Osbourne's full interview here.
He'll kick off the European leg of his farewell trek in January of next year.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Osbourne revealed that a trio of staph infections in his right thumb had caused his digit to swell to "the size of a fuckin' lightbulb." Though the rock legend felt fine otherwise, he went to the ER for the advice of a medical professional.
"I didn't feel sick, so I was cracking jokes," Osbourne told the magazine. "The doctor said, 'I don't know if you realize, Mr. Osbourne, this is a very serious problem you have.' Sharon said, 'Would you stop fucking making jokes?' So I said, 'Well, it's my hand.'"
Doctors discovered that one of the three staph infections had also spread to Osbourne's middle finger. Ensuing surgery led doctors to freeze Osbourne's thumb before putting it under the knife.
"You put your thumb in front of your face on your right hand, they went in by the side of the nail on the left side for the flesh under the nail," Osbourne recalled. "They cut all this stuff out. Even with the numbing stuff, it was agony. It wasn't pus, but it was the stage after pus, when it gets in the blood and goes in your body and fucking kills you."
When he asked the doctor how he could have become infected — let alone three times over — Osbourne recalled, "The doctor said to me, 'Can you remember talking to someone and shaking hands?' Well, I do that meet and greet at the gig and I must shake fucking 200 hands a day. He said, 'That explains it.'"
Following surgery, doctors put Osbourne on drip and pill antibiotics. He stayed in hospital for a little under a week, heading home with medical soap to soak his hand in twice a day for 10 days.
"I haven't been able to do anything," he told Rolling Stone of his life at home. "I'm right-handed. You can't wipe your own ass. And I didn't have many fucking volunteers who would do it for me."
You can read Osbourne's full interview here.
He'll kick off the European leg of his farewell trek in January of next year.
