Here's a little free medical advice:
If you still have your appendix, make sure it doesn't rupture. Based on recent experiences I'm not sure how to keep this from happening but, truth be told, it would seriously behoove you to take a keen interest in the overall health of your digestive system.
On 6 April (that's right, I'll be using the European date notation), at 5:30 am, I took myself to the emergency room following about 18 hours of increasingly agonizing pain. What started out the day before as abdominal pain resembling that of a muscle pull (in my mind attributable to a trip to the driving range two days prior... The first such trip of the season) turned into this incredibly awesome stinging sensation throughout my entire mid-section. After a sleepless night, I threw in the towel and sought medical attention.
The ER doctors weren't able to diagnose me right away but did say I was presenting symptoms consistent with appendicitis and they ordered a CAT scan to confirm the diagnosis. It didn't take more than 15 minutes once the CAT scan was completed for the doctor to come in and confirm that I needed surgery and I needed it that day.
I was pleased to know that they were going to be able to fix my problem, but I still didn't like the idea of surgery. After all, the only surgery I had ever been through was a wisdom tooth extraction and that was truly unpleasant. But the doctors kept telling me that the procedure is common and typically very non-invasive (unless there are complications) and I kept reminding myself that Ben Roethlisberger had an appendectomy last year and was back on the football field a week later. Little did I know what I was in for.
The surgery went well, but my recovery did not. I wound up spending 11 days in the hospital trying to get my digestive system to work again! Seriously, I didn't eat or poop for over a week. It was surreal.
Long story short, as I said before, I must insist that you keep your appendix intact or have it removed at your earliest convenience. You'll avoid a lot of pain if you do.
