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Gov. George Pataki remained hospitalized Monday nearly a week after undergoing a surgery to correct a postoperative complication related to an emergency appendectomy. Pataki, 60, continued eating some food Monday but also remained on intravenous nutrition and antibiotics to reduce the risk of an abscess... `The governor's doctors have indicated that there has been a slow return of normal digestive function because of the ruptured appendix,'' ... Pataki was originally to be released two days after the Feb. 16 appendectomy. ``The governor continues to be in good spirits and is reading, walking around and conducting state business,'' ...

Gov. George Pataki, showing no improvement five days after surgeons removed his appendix, was transferred Tuesday to a New York City hospital and underwent another operation. Doctors operated to alleviate a blockage in Pataki's digestive system, said his spokesman, David Catalfamo. Afterward, the governor was "awake, alert and resting comfortably," ... A blockage following abdominal surgery is relatively rare, said Daniel Herron, an assistant professor of surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.

NEW BERN, N.C. - Wheeler Lipes, a World War II pharmacist's mate who performed an emergency appendectomy aboard a submarine with makeshift instruments such as bent spoons, has died at 84, two months after receiving belated honors for his feat. Lipes died Sunday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, said his brother-in-law, Chris Doney. Lipes used bent spoons for retractors and alcohol from torpedoes for sterilization in 1942 when he removed the appendix of sailor Darrel Dean Rector aboard the USS Seadragon, 120 feet below the surface of the South China Sea. Lipes, then 22, and an assistant wore sterilized...

All, It is with great sorrow that I announce the passing of my appendix this past Wednesday evening at roughly 6 o'clock. We enjoyed many adventures together. It was my one and only appendix. It will be missed. Sniff....Sniff.... A private ceremony was held on Thursday morning in the pathologist's laboratory. Please send your condolences to my surviving organs at the above address. The survivors request that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to "Rockitz' Appendix Fund." One in six people will lose their appendix sometime during their life. Only you can prevent the loss of this misunderstood organ...