I had open heart surgery at age 27, and the months after were full of pain in my abdomen and genital areas. I went to multiple urologists, GI docs, etc. and wa

I had open heart surgery at age 27, and the months after were full of pain in my abdomen and genital areas. I went to multiple urologists, GI docs, etc. and was ultimately diagnosed with “chronic pelvic pain disorder”: basically a wastebasket diagnosis after they’ve eliminated all other culprits. It’s not known exactly what causes it, but a leading idea (that makes sense in my case especially) is that you’re basically having a Charlie horse (cramp) in your prostate that lasts months. It can occur after a serious surgery or traumatic event. Anyway, there’s no cure, but after months of stretching it’s mostly gone now. While health issues still persist in my life, I feel healthy enough now to do basically everything in my life that I did before the surgery. But the whole incident really changed the way I look at health, life, and health care/awareness in America.