Truths, Half-truths, and Sea Stories

When I was in my mid-Thirties, my appendix exploded. If I had been subject to the employer and healthcare that I n0w have, it might never have gotten that far. But I was in the Navy, and my supervisors at the time were generally an ignorant bunch. After 3 days, I did get my agony recognized, and while being shuttled off to the hospital, the appendix burst.
Over the last 15 years I have had recurrent bouts of what I affectionally call “vapor lock”, when I neglected to follow a careful diet, proper hydration, or just common sense in what I was eating. After the appendectomy, I developed bowel scar tissue or adhesions which periodically can seal the colon. Sometimes a person can have a hankering for dried fruit, popcorn, peanuts – and eating too much can result in a bellyache. Or, in my case, I get a obstructed. The Bible talks about the evils resulting from the lust of the eye as a spritual battle relieved by prayer and repentance. With a physical evil, there is still a lot of prayer, but a visit to the Emergency Room is the best cure. In the last seven or eight times, I have had an NG tube inserted through my nose and esophagus to relieve the pressure on the adhesion, which I can tell you makes me very sorry about lusting after food. I think often about the scene in the Dustin Hoffman movie, Marathon Man, where the Nazi dentist is torturing him with a dental drill. I imagine the terror of an NG tube.