#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& to be "gutted" tomorrow.

[1dozenraw]

Hey Bill... good luck, keep the faith and fast recovery. Didn't know you even needed gutting.

[eelman]

Nice way to put it paul!

Anyway, I have made alot of this, Simply because I have never been thru something like this...But for those who want to know exactly what it is I will explain..

About a year ago I had stomach pain, I thought it was simple constipation or somehing and blew it off...After a week or so My family told me to get checked...After a cat scan I was told I had Diverticulitis and that I needed to be in the hospital on Antibiotics to clear it up...I didnt think anything of it and just said "oh thats the thing where you cant eat seeds" no big deal...I was wrong...Last september I had another bout but it was milder...Then this past December I was again hospitalized with it agaion making that 3 bouts in less than a year..I also had a colonoscopy to confirm it.

The Surgeon explained to me that at my age I was at severe risk for the next episode to ruptue into my stomach causing a life threataning infection..The standard thing to do in a case like mine is to just have the affected part of the large intestine removed and the good ends sewn together...and it should end my problems for good..In mY case I have about a 9 inch section affected on my left side...

I had to wait for all the inflamation to go down before any surgery...and now I am at that point and tommorow is the day.

They are going to try and do it laproscopicaly but may have to convert to an open surgery depending on what they see..It is between a 3 and 4 hour operation...After that I was told to expext a 5 day Hospital stay and a total of about 6 weeks for full recovery, if it is done laproscopic I can expect a 3 to 4 week recovery...

It is an area like a hose that has those bubbles or weak points in it and thats what they need to remove...

I am just explaining it so people know what I am having done and why!

Today is prep day and I am enjoying all the laxitives to clean me out!!

I am nervous , I think its only natural and cant wait to just get this overwith...Well thats what is going on! Thanks for the well wishes everyone....They do help!

[Flaptail]

You'll be fine. It will suck for a few days ( maybe a week or so actually) but your young enough to recover quickly. Recovering is attitude and I know you have that so channel it to getting better.

(Just hope the doctor doesn't fish and if he does he thinks it would be a fitting twist to use an old rusty bait knife)

Good luck and don't sweat it besides chicks dig scars!

[Dad 818]

good luck Bill.

[fishaholic18]

Me an Lorna wish you the best of luck with that Billy, I'll be praying for it all to go well....I'll give you a call later...Hang in there, it will be over b4 you know it....Enjoy the meds...

[WadingWill]

Bill, we've never met face to face, but I've read alot of your articles on OTW, Risaa newslestters, etc... Thanks for them they really helped me out and pointed me in the right direction.

You'll do fine with your surgery, and I wish you a speedy recovery. Hope to read about you catching a 70lber in the bay this summer, you deserve it. Good luck and get well soon, Will.

[numbskull]

Doctors these days don't know squat. If they'd seen the movie "Alien", then they'd know what is going on. Just make sure they got a lazer or robot lifter or something to get that sucker after they open you up. Good luck, Bill.