My wallet is going to divorce me, or kill me. :)   
       
   I've made 2 trips to an area Emergency Room since late last week. Last   
   Thursday, I had chills, fever, nausea (no vomiting), moderate to severe   
   abdominal pain, and diarrhea. I didn't know if it was the flu, food   
   poisoning, gastrointeritis, or appendicitis. I had taken Phenagren   
   (anti-nausea medicine), and was too groggy to drive, so I called the   
   ambulance. They did a CT scan and blood work, and determined that my appendix   
   and blood count were OK, but I likely had caught the Nerovirus (a strain of   
   viral gastrointeritis) that was going around.   
       
   Two nights later (Saturday), I started getting pain in the right testicle. It   
   would start as a dull pain, then moderately ramp up to a point for a few   
   seconds, then ebb back off. A minute or two later, it repeated itself. The   
   pain max was 4 Saturday night, but jumped to 7 by Sunday afternoon. I drove   
   myself to the Emergency Room, having 3 attacks on the way, and no less than 6   
   attacks while I was there. Examination turned out to be a "classic case of   
   epididymytis". That one, I have no clue how I got, as the last time I had   
   sexual intercourse was the night my wife died. We were intimate at her   
   request, and she suffered a massive heart attack at 48 years of age (she had   
   had a defective aortic heart valve all her life). The last words we said to   
   each other were "I love you". I still get tears in my eyes to this day,   
   either typing or talking about it.   
       
   While I had been diagnosed with various forms of gastrointeritis several   
   times before, this was the first time I had been diagnosed with epididymytis.   
   It is a tongue twister, and the nurse who checked me out, couldn't even   
   pronounce it!! They gave me a shot of an antibiotic...it was supposed to be   
   in the left hip, but was in the left buttock instead. I think they had acid   
   in it, and a barbed wire needle, as it sure burned and stung when it went   
   in!! My buttock was sore for several hours afterwards.   
       
   They also gave me an anti-biotic (Doxycycline) that I have to take twice a   
   day for 30 days. But, another strange thing is that they noted "no sex for a   
   month", but added that "sometimes masturbation can help with epididymytis".   
   That seems like a conflict of interest to me!! As a side note, except for   
   abstinence, masturbation, or knowing your partner is STD free, that's about   
   the only "safe sex" left. The first thing the ER doctor asked me was if I was   
   having "unprotected sex". The arthritis is so bad in the arms and legs now,   
   that I likely couldn't even engage in intercourse, for the arthritis pain.   
       
   At least I didn't have appendicitis, and didn't have to have surgery to repair   
   testicular torsion. But, while this will help with my rent recertification in   
   early 2014, it means I have to do without any extra expenses for awhile.   
      
   Daryl   
      
   --- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS    
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