I had extreme abdominal pain one night 3 and a half years ago. Initially thought it was really bad gas. It progressively got worse, and I ended up driving myself to the ER.

I was there over night, and at one point the pain became so unbarable I literally crawled out of my hospital bed and screamed for a nurse. They took me in for a CT scan and did an ultrasound, but said they couldn't find anything. They sent me home and said I should see a gut specialist. Availability wasn't for 2 weeks, but I left, barely being able to even walk.

The next 24 hours I spent in my bed taking every over counter pain med I could. I tried drinking lots of water as I figured it maybe could be a kidney stone. Was near impossible to keep down, but I kept trying. Food had no appeal whatsoever.

I began to think "I really think I'm going to die", so my father in law took me to another hospital (we had a 3 week old baby my wife needed to be with), and they took me in for a CT scan with contrast. And I guess that "contrast" was the difference. I was diagnosed with a ruptured intestine due to a Meckel's Diverticulum I was born with. Apparently, 2% of people are born with it, and a very small portion of that 2% have complications later in life.

I was rushed in for emergency surgery. Doctor says if I waited another half day, I would've certainly been septic.

Spent 11 days in the hospital recovering.

Best moment came when I texted "I finally pooped!" to my wife, only to find out when my wife visited and checked my phone that I actually had, in my half-sedated state, texted that to a coworker with a similar name.