Post by xxxdoes anyone know if this is a likely product of his drinking/drugging or just a random thing? i've never heard of this shit before.
Diverticulitis is fairly common in middle to older aged people. It's down mostly to a poor diet and hereditary links although I'd guess Eddie's lifelong drinking didn't help. Here's a pretty simple explanation of the disease:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverticulitis
In Eddie's case, it sounds like he probably had a very severe episode which included an intestinal rupture or tear and infection which explains the emergency surgery. He likely has a colostomy bag for several months while he recovers which will be eventually "repaired" in another surgery. Pretty much everyone that's gone through this describes it as living hell, very painful to deal with. Considering it was mentioned that Eddie was or still is hospitalized for at least three weeks would lead to the educated guess that he was probably suffering from diverticulosis through the tail end of the US tour which was the real reason for the cancellations of the Summer dates as it was probably thought he could be treated or at least the condition managed with a change in diet and antibiotics but obviously, that didn't work out.
Interestingly, the symptoms are similar to cancer of the colon and in fact, someone on the VHLinks message board posted well over a month ago that a "friend" told him that Eddie was being treated at a hospital in Texas for stomach cancer.
He'll likely be out of action for close to a year.
T.B.