so, a couple of years ago, i was feeling increasingly poorly for a few days, and it turned out i have diverticulitis, and ended up in the hospital for a few days, as a result.

when i was in my early 20s, i had an experience with a family friend who had diverticulitis. this was before CT scans — the most common way of diagnosing such conditions, these days — were in common use, and there was a lot of “scientific guesswork” involved in both the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. this family friend had been “prescribed” a diet of nothing but plain noodles and hard candy for a month, which i thought was both hilarious and ghastly, at the same time. the science of medicine has advanced A LOT in the past ≈45 years, for which i am VERY glad!

the risk factors for developing diverticulitis, these days, include “obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, a family history of the disease, and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The role of a low fiber diet as a risk factor is unclear.” which, generally, does NOT describe me, although, these days, the doctors also say that it could just be “bad luck”, which is a little more understandable.

so, when i started developing symptoms that were ALARMINGLY similar to diverticulitis, again, yesterday, i went into full protection mode, which includes informing my lovely wife, who gave me some “dog antibiotics” (she just “happened” to have them around, in her “dog first aid kit”), because the last two “rehearsals” for the panto are wednesday (today), and thursday (tomorrow), and the rehearsal tomorrow actually has an audience, despite the fact that it is a “dress rehearsal”, and the show starts “for real” on saturday… and i have ALREADY had to bail on the panto because i got sick at the last POSSIBLE moment, once, so it feels REALLY BAD to have to bail on them AGAIN. 😠

the good news is that i am already feeling ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE better, have a strong forward path which DOES NOT include the hospital, and i should be able to make the rehearsals and performances of the panto without further difficulties. 👍👍