This article first appeared on genaleph.org Nine years ago I was hospitalized In Haddasah Ein Kerem for a month with a ruptured appendix. I was admitted into the ICU where I was on a constant drip of IV administered medication. The medicine wreaked so much havoc on my digestion system that I was put on the same anti nausea medication that cancer patients receive when undergoing chemotherapy. I lost over thirty pounds in less than four weeks and the doctors had me drinking Ensure to maintain my weight. While I was mostly confined to my bed, the doctors asked me to take a daily walk down the hospital hall so that my muscles would not atrophy. What should have been a thirty second walk took me about forty five minutes. I would then rest in the sitting area at the end of the hall for fifteen minutes and then take the forty five minute hike back to my room. Afterwards I would sleep for about four hours to recover. Most days I didn’t even have the strength to daven. At the end of my stay, after I had mostly recovered, there was a debate among the doctors in the hospital. The two chiefs of surgery wanted to wait until the end of the summer to perform the necessary surgery while the chief of medicine wanted to perform the surgery immediately. In a closed door off the record meeting the chief of surgery explained to me that I was not well enough for surgery. My stomach was still significantly inflamed. Any surgery would necessitate removing part of my intestine and parts of other sign
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