Diverticulitis

Yeah, the symptoms.
[note: I had eaten popcorn for dinner 3 nights in a row just a few days prior to following events-in retrospect, I believe the hard, rough, indigestible kernels were my downfall]
I had pain in my abdominal area.
It was dull at first. But it did not go away. My lower, left abdomen.
And then at night,
Horrible gas....:::::::::::::::.............
That lasted all night long.

I thought that getting up and going to the bathroom in the morning would help. But it didn't, the lower abdominal area hurt more each day, making it difficult to raise my legs to step into pants.
I made an appointment with the doctor.
She felt around my abdomen, pressing and releasing, asking me if this or that hurt. She diagnosed me quite quickly, but wanted to be certain, so she sent me in for a CAT scan.
At this point, I was so relieved that I probably did not have some dread disease, or, wanted to make sure that I didn't, I went immediately to the hospital and agreed to a large out-of-pocket sum for the procedure.

Again, in retrospect, a CAT scan was not necessary, in MY opinion. The cost (deductible) to me was 1,000 out of pocket, total cost, 6,000! The doctor could have just prescribed the treatment ; simple antibiotics. Amoxicillin. Which actually began to take effect in a couple of hours.
If the amoxicillin hadn't worked, THEN she should have been more investigatory and sent me for the scan. But to use it as a first resort was profligate, wasteful, expensive.
As it turns out, diverticulitis is quite common. There is chronic diverticulitis which I do not have. What I had was an infection in the "diverticula", a small pocket in my intestine where something got caught (popcorn?)
It has been many months and I have not had a flare up, ever. My diet is normal, plenty of fiber, vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, even seeds, which some say can be a culprit in a flare-up of diverticulitis. Some say you can't eat things with skin, like tomato or grape, but I don't seem to have that problem.
I haven't had corn, though. Popcorn or even cooked corn, just to be safe.
The doctor said she wanted to check my progress after the antibiotics with ANOTHER CAT scan, (!) but I told her how expensive they are and she was shocked! Doctors are not even aware that they are sending their patients in for these expensive treatments that are very useful tools for THEM; they can tell immediately and without a doubt what the problem is. But they do not know that they are possibly placing a huge financial burden on their patient, who is scared and thinks that this is absolutely called for and necessary.
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