This past Saturday, I woke feeling nauseated, running a slight fever and had chills.  The biggest thing was a sharp, unyielding pain in my lower left-side.  It was terrible.  I was thinking, do I have appendicitis?   But, I read online that pain is near the navel, or upper abdomen.  Scratch appendicitis.  So, I was thinking, do I have a hernia?  I read stuff online and it sounded like that is what I had.  Distraught, I called my doctor's office hoping I could get a Thursday morning appointment.  Luckily, Obamacare has yet to destroy us to the point to where we have to wait a month for an appointment.  So, I got the appointment at 11AM Thursday.  I got in to see the doctor fairly quickly, thankfully.  I told him all my symptoms, waiting for him to tell me I had a hernia that would require surgery.  I was dreading the bad news.  After a careful examination, blood work, urine work, my doctor determined I had the beginning stages of a bad infection of Diverticulitis.   This can usually be treated with strong antibiotics, which is what I'm taking now.   If the pain continues, then a CAT scan is the order.  If the CAT scan determines I have a blockage, then there will be surgery.  But, I'm not even thinking about that right now.  My mindset is that the antibiotics will clear this up.

My body began to give me warning signals last Saturday.  Unlike when I had a gall bladder nearly burst, I paid attention to what my body was telling me.  The pain won't just go away if you try to tough it out at my age of 61.  That gall bladder incident almost cost me my life.  But, it was a very valuable lesson.  In fact, regardless of your age, pay attention to your body's warning signals.  Don't let a constant, consistent pain continue untreated.  You ignore it at your own peril.  Hopefully, by next week, I will be completely over this bout of Diverticulitis.  My doctor thinks we got to it in time to prevent possible surgery.  I hope he is right.  That gall bladder removal was enough surgery to last me two lifetimes.