A friend's daughter had a burst appendix that she ignored for almost four days, because it was registration time at her college and she was so worried she'd miss out on getting the classes she wanted.

Then she was out for most of the semester anyway, recovering from it. Apparently a burst appendix CAN kill you, and from the way she describes it, the pain makes you WANT to die, but it's not an instant kind of thing.

I recently heard a story that might have been on The Moth about a guy's burst appendix. It might have been Andy Borowitz. Anyway, he made it very funny, and he survived.

Ouch.

Yeah, I had a friend who ignored a burst appendix too. He was very sick, but he's fine now.

Mr. Arkham almost died from a burst appendix he ignored...and then when we finally went to the ER he sat around for hours because "if it was his appendix, he would be screaming in pain." Not taking into account midwestern stoicism and a high pain tolerance.

Best wishes for your co-worker, once it does burst that's a long recovery.

My 4 year old uncle died from one before my mother was born.

Miko, I heard it on NPR.

Yeah, from what I could tell, the pain wasn't intolerable. She was exhausted and sleeping all day (this all started with a diagnosed run-of-the-mill stomach virus) and assumed that she was just recovering from the virus, but it wasn't intolerable. Bleah. Right now they're waiting for her body to stabilize before they can do the surgery...when you've been hit with that many toxins, it's dangerous to do anything drastic. I think the surgery is later this afternoon.

My appendix is rigged to burst if I ever come into contact with Billy Ray Cyrus.

I'm doing this for you, Universe.

Eide, that only works if the appendix is capable of bursting out of your abdomen and strangling Billy Ray.

I recently heard a story that might have been on The Moth about a guy's burst appendix. It might have been Andy Borowitz. Anyway, he made it very funny, and he survived.

It was on This American Life recently. It's a great story.

I just found out a few days ago that my mum had her appendix removed when she was 16. It was causing some issues and she had just gotten married. Her doc wanted it out before she got pregnant and caused even more issues.

We're taught it can kill you because it can, but sometimes one's body makes a sac like thing that contains the infection. That's what happened to a friend of mine last year. She walked around with the thing busted for almost a week. When she did report to the hospital, they cleared the infection, and scheduled the removal for a month or so later. Wild stuff. Your friend will be ok.