The state you choose to live in now might decide whether you live or die medically

 But, even in my own case here is an example of the difference betweeen country medicine and city medicine here in the U.S. So, it isn't just by state but also whether you are rural or in a big city with colleges and universities where educated people usually choose to live.

Here is my experience with a burst appendix in 2015 in Mt. Shasta. I had driven north from the SF Bay area and expected to eventually reach my son and his family in Portland, Oregon. I had stopped to visit friends just before Easter of 2015. A few months earlier I and these two friends had gone to the Kona Side of the Big Island of Hawaii where the water was at least 85 Degrees for snorkeling in January to the point where if I wanted to cool down from snorkeling I had to get out and let the breezes dry me out to get cool. 

Now is a week (about 8 days) before it got really bad in Mt. Shasta just a week before Easter of 2015. I started throwing up that day and night and my friend's girlfriend had made some corn soup of some kind and I wanted to be polite and eat some but then I had to go outside and throw up again at their home. I didn't want to go into their bathroom and make a mess so I went outside to throw up on his 2 1/2 acres of land with manzanita, oak and pine and cedar and fir trees and fruit trees on it. I excused myself after that to go back to my hotel room because I just kept throwing up. About an hour or two later the pain was getting worse and worse in my stomach area to the right until I felt and explosion of the worst pain I had ever had in my midsection in my life. I knew I might be dying so I called my friends to take me to the hospital before I passed out from the pain. So, they drove down and drove me in my 4 wheel drive truck to the hospital nearby.

I asked for something for the pain because I was having trouble remaining conscious with this much pain. They wanted to give me morphine and I didn't really want that but decided that that might be better than passing out from the pain. But, what I didn't know then was that morphine is extremely constipating (for 4 days after that I couldn't have a bowel movement for example and this caused me to basically throw up everything I ate except water. They told me I had some gastrointestinal problem but didn't diagnose what was wrong with me for another week.

Well. What had really happened was my appendix had burst. that was what I experienced in my midsection was my appendix bursting. However, they didn't diagnose this but sent me home. I had worried about morphine hallucinations but it was okay because my hallucinations from morphine were of watching all the pictures in my Iphone of my family and friends which was something I could easily deal with. In fact in distracted me from worrying about dying which was good.

They sent me home from the hospital (I believed to die) because of the way I felt and after researching this more I realized most people likely would have died in sending me home like this. However, because I was never given any shots as a kid I have an immune system like someone out of the 1800s which is superior to most people because of herd immunity.

So, I didn't die even though I thought I might it was so bad. So, I couldn't keep food down and I could only drink water for the next 4 days until I finally had a bowel movement on Tuesday and I had gone into the hospital Friday before they sent me home to my hotel room to die (which is what most people would have done).

So, a week later I asked for a sonogram because I knew something serious was wrong with me and that I eventually would die if they didn't figure it out right this time. They gave me a catscan and told me I would die without a laparoscopic surgery to remove the burst appendix. I don't believe that is true at this point though because now for a burst appendix often they just give people antibiotics so they don't die.

I believed even after the surgery that I was going to die for about a year from all this. I'm leaving out the worst parts of what I experienced which were horrific beyond belief and I'm going to leave it at that.

Now, here is what happened to my wife this week. She is 7 years younger than I and what happened to me is about 7 years or more ago now. She woke up with bad stomach pains and nausea. However, if you know my wife she has a cast iron stomach and even endured 30 foot seas and went to Antarctica with a lady friend in 2016 where 80 percent of the crew and passengers were sick as dogs from the rolling seas on the ship. If you want to go to Antarctica Seabourn cruises will take you there. This is what my wife and her friend did in 2016. I didn't go because I get seasick since I have been about 32 years old in heavy seas.

The point here is that her doctor told her to go to the emergency room. They recommended a catscan immediately. The catscan showed an appendicitis and galstones but they could ONLY address the appendix right now because of the danger of infection. (most people die from appendicitis and burst appendix from sepsis by the way).

So, surviving a burst appendix or appendicitis is no small matter for anyone.

My wife is recovering nicely now. We went to a good hospital that is well staffed in a more affluent area.

Whereas I still have a hernia caused by my surgery which affects the way I walk and have to wear a hernia belt all the time now because my cardiologists tell me I cannot be put under deep enough for them to do a robotics surgery on my hernia to survive it.

So, what I'm telling you here is that the difference between country hospitals and city hospitals can be really extreme. For example, you might have 20 times the chance of dying in a country hospital than a city hospital. So, it isn't just which states give abortions legally and which do not. It is also country hospitals versus city hospitals too.

Something to think about if you have health issues all over the U.S.