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Message: <blockquote data-quote="StevePreddy" data-source="post: 3347637" data-attributes="member: 37455"><p>While guiding a Swiss birder on the Severn estuary in early 2013, we were just heading out to see the Purple Sandpipers on the point at Portishead, when I suddenly felt the worst abdominal pain I had ever experienced, called 999, and was taken by ambulance to Bristol Royal Infirmary. Scans showed that my small intestine had perforated, leading to peritonitis, which usually leads to sepsis then death within about 24 hours, so ... emergency surgery that evening, two weeks of very close monitoring in hospital, and a follow-up op later in the year to put everything back in working order, all courtesy of our wonderful National Health Service. Had it happened two months earlier when I was in northern India, the outcome may have been somewhat different. Do I win the thread? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>