If you get pain in your lower-right quadrant, don’t assume it’s stomach flu and think it will go away on its own like I did. It could very well be appendicitis, and they typically get worse, not better, if left untreated.

After an ER visit on Monday night and an emergency appendectomy, I just got back home. Apparently I let it fester for so long that the inflammation had spread and they nearly took out more than just the appendix.

Thanks for bearing with my unannounced hiatus. Today’s blog post will include an old Chinese parable that was used in Thomas Cleary’s introduction in The Art of War:

According to an old story, a lord of ancient China once asked his physician, a member of a family of healers, which of them was the most skilled in the art.

The physician, whose reputation was such that his name became synonymous with medical science in China, replied, “My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house.

“My elder brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood.

“As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords.”