A Random Disgusting Thought About Saxophone Reeds.

Sax reeds ...

1. I walk around with a sax reed in my mouth for much of the day.

2. I have what feels like the beginning of a head cold.

What do these two things have to do with each other? 

I’m forever breaking in new reeds, with the hope of finding a pearl in the dirt.  Well, I think I found it.  This morning I was breaking in a Vandoren Java 3 ½ .  A really nice reed. As with any reed, I tend to walk around with it, hanging from my lower lip, from which I take it and suck the extra saliva from it, then turn it over (gross, I know, but it has to be done). 

Anyway, in my rush to use the restroom before my saxophone student arrived, I stepped into the men’s room with said reed dangling from my lip.  As I stood there I thought to myself,

“What if I sneeze right now, and this reed would fall into the commode?”

 

What a quandary!  Would I fish the thing out and wash it? Would I forget about it and flush?   Like I said, it’s a REALLY NICE REED. 

What would you do?