Thai star Prom Meesawat, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, says he is “happy to be alive” after having to endure a nightmare last month due to a late diagnosis of a ruptured appendix.
“I was playing golf with the boys last month. In the afternoon I went to the gym but my stomach started feeling uncomfortable,” says Prom, whose father Suthep was the first Thai to win the Thailand Open in 1991.
“I went to the hospital in the evening on Sunday, just to see the doctor and he gave me some medicine to try and help with the pain. The next day I still went to play golf but could only play six holes because it was so painful and I lost my energy.
“I rested in the locker room. Then I drove to Synphaet Hospital in Bangkok. The same doctor gave me a thorough check-up. I was admitted for two days but they could not see anything unusual from the ultrasound result.”
Prom stayed another two nights and went home for two days, but the pain persisted, so he went back to the hospital on Thursday. The doctor suggested a CT scan, which revealed a ruptured appendix.
It had taken almost a week to diagnose the problem and, because they did not know the appendix was ruptured, it could have cost Prom his life. The 36-year-old only realised it was life-threatening after reading about it.
“What made this difficult was that it just felt uncomfortable in front of my stomach. It was not right at the spot where the appendix is, so that is why the doctor could not tell what happened with me. Even when they touched or pushed on the appendix spot there was no pain. It was a very difficult case.
“I didn’t expect it was going to be an appendix problem. The doctor said we can do surgery tonight or tomorrow, I said no, do it straight away! Don’t wait! I’m glad I’m still alive,” noted the burly golfer, who underwent the surgery on October 15.
In August, Prom won the Singha Pattaya Open for a record fourth time on the All Thailand Golf Tour and was in fine form until he fell ill.
“It all happened very quickly. We weren’t prepared for that. My wife took very good care of me despite having to take care of two kids. It is good that the hospital was close to my house – only five minutes away. That was perfect,” he said.
Prom’s recuperation regime for now is to walk in the swimming pool each day and see if he can do some short game work.
“I haven’t touched a golf club in over a month now as I need to recover first. It has been a month and a half and Tuesday was my first day walking in the pool. I’m alright now, there’s no pain. It’s just the core muscle where I felt a little bit of pinching,” he explained.
Next month, Prom plans to start working on strength conditioning with his trainer but not on the core area.
“I have to get my body flexible to help the wound heal. I’m going to start slowly and not try to force it. I’m a professional and I need to take care of my body really well. If the Asian Tour starts in January, I might have to miss the first couple of events.”
Story by Asian Tour
