‘DWTS’ Judge Carrie Ann Inaba Says It’s ‘A Gift’ To Feel Pain After Emergency Surgery

Carrie Ann Inaba has at least a month of recovery ahead of her after undergoing emergency surgery last week—and she couldn’t be happier about that.

The Dancing With the Stars judge took to Instagram Friday to explain to her fans and followers that she’s lucky to be alive and thrilled to experience anything after enduring abdominal pain that should have had her seeking help much sooner.

Inaba, who spent four days at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, also revealed her diagnosis—acute gangrenous appendicitis—and she implored others not to miss the warning signs.

“Special shout out to the wonderful staff of doctors, nurses and aides at @cedarssinai for taking such good care of me. ????????????????????????????????????” Inaba wrote in the post that included a video filmed from her hospital bed. “I had an emergency appendectomy last week and while it’s been quite a painful experience, I also know it’s a gift to even feel this pain. I realize after speaking with my doctor that it could have been much worse.????”

As Inaba explained in her message, appendicitis can come on quickly and “seemingly out of nowhere.”

“And when you are in that much pain, the last thing you want to do is go anywhere,” said the 55-year-old, who also lives with a variety of autoimmune conditions, including Sjögren’s Syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and fibromyalgia. “And when you have autoimmune disease, you are often having strange health occurrences that no one can explain or help you with so sometimes, you try to wait it out, like I did.”

To which she added, “I was wrong.”

Inaba experienced a number of the appendicitis symptoms listed on Cedar-Sinai’s website, such as such as stomach upset and “violent” vomiting. The medical center stresses that best course of action when exhibiting symptoms is to contact a healthcare provider or “go to your closest emergency room.”

But the Dancing With the Stars panelist admitted that she was hesitant to do so.

“I should have gone when I couldn’t stand without excruciating pain… but I honestly didn’t want to leave my babies, and I’m so accustomed to pain —thought I should let it play out,” she recalled.

Urging others not to do the same, Inaba wrote, “please have it checked out because it could be something very serious.”

She wrapped up her post with more raves for the medical staff who took care of her, telling them, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone at @cedarssinai for the great care. If I needed to do it again, I would come back to you. Thankfully, my appendix will not be bothering me anymore. ???????????? #byebyeappendix #appendicitis #health #autoimmunedisease”

The comments that followed her post, whether from fans or fellow DWTS talent, like Derek Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro, echoed the same sentiment again and again: “Get well soon!”