Just months after releasing his first album with David Lee Roth in almost 30 years, Eddie Van Halen required emergency surgery for a bowel infection.
Eddie Van Halen, June 2012 [ChrisPizello/AP]
The world's greatest Dutch-American guitarist is once again unwell. From the band's official statement:
Eddie Van Halen underwent an emergency surgery for a severe bout of diverticulitis. No further surgeries are needed and a full recovery is expected within 4-6 months.
Eddie has already survived crippling avascular necrosis and an oropharyngeal cancer, which left him with a prosthetic metal hip and half of his tongue removed. (The whereabouts of the amputated tongue are contested -- some insist that Van Halen's indomitable spirit must live on within it, and that it is thriving somewhere, pulsating, giving birth to baby tongues.)
EVH's prognosis in this case is promising, too, but when diverticulitis requires emergency surgery, it's no small thing.
We often hear about diverticulitis as a common problem that's cured with some rest and antibiotics. And that's usually the case. But it can absolutely be serious enough to result in postponement of all of your tour dates in Japan. All of them!
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A diverticulum is an out-pouching, like a tiny balloon. We can get diverticula in lots of places on/in us, but when we talk about "diverticulosis" we're referring to the ones in the walls of our colon. Most people have at least a few colonic diverticula by the time they get old. They've been associated with low-fiber diets and obesity.