James Barber was sitting in his relatives' garden when he was suddenly taken over by sickness so severe he had to have an emergency operation to remove his appendix.

James, 38, who was visiting his future in-laws in Northamptonshire with his wife-to-be, Glenys, said: "We got there and I felt fine on the Thursday. I woke up on Friday and was just sitting in the garden reading.

"Suddenly I felt very feverish and nauseous. I dashed to the bathroom at about 10am and was violently sick. I had diarrhoea and terrible stomach cramps which could only be described as having your intestines opened up and someone fiddling around with them and then suddenly squeezing really hard.

"You have heard the phrase 'writhing in agony'. I now know what that is like. I was lying on the bed and could not keep still. I would have a bit of respite and it would start up again. It would alternate between being sick, having diarrhoea and then having stomach pains again.

"By 1pm I could not lie on my right side. That was when I thought I had appendicitis."

James had already suffered what he now knows to have been a grumbling appendix twice before, once before Christmas and again at the end of January when he experienced severe stomach pains and was violently sick.

This time, on April 23, Glenys insisted James see her parents' GP when his illness had not passed after more than four hours.

She drove him to the surgery as he lay semi-conscious on the back seat on his left side and clutching a plastic bag in case he was sick.

The GP examined him, asked questions and diagnosed appendicitis. He referred him to hospital in Peterborough immediately. Glenys took him in the car again, negotiating the unfamiliar one-way system as James lay in agony on the back seat.

James was taken to the surgical assessment unit. By this time he was sweating profusely, turning hot and cold, still in great pain and still gagging although he had no food left in his stomach to be sick on.

James said: "They put me on a bed and I let them do what they had to do. It was like a scene from Casualty. I was hyper-ventilating at this stage so I had to have an oxygen mask.

"I was dehydrated so I had to have a saline drip but because I was dehydrated my veins had shrunk and sunk so they found it difficult to find a vein. At this time I was still in agony, still retching."

He was examined by a nurse, junior doctor and then by a consultant who concluded he had appendicitis. His appendix was inflamed and needed to be removed in an operation as soon as possible. Only then was he given morphine for the pain.

James's operation was planned for between 8am and midnight but a more serious emergency meant it did not go ahead until 1.30am.

He came round from his operation at 8am and his pain had gone.

James was encouraged to get moving as soon as possible and was discharged at 11.30am the next day. Glenys took him back home to Haywards Heath as he reclined in the front passenger seat because he could not sit up.

Some of the dissolvable stitches were on the outside of his 8cm scar so they had to removed by a nurse at his GP surgery after ten days.

He was on antibiotics for the first week after his operation to prevent infection which left him drowsy and nauseous. He tried to move about as much as possible but could not stand up straight or sit down easily because the wound was in the crease of his abdomen.

As the healing progressed James came off the antibiotics but getting up and down from a seated position was still difficult. He was hoping to be back at work at The Argus where he is a sub-editor after two weeks but his GP said the wound was still too tender for a job where he would be sitting a lot.

After the third week James was fit to return although he had to adjust his office chair so he would not hurt his scar area. After six weeks life was relatively back to normal. Now, more than three months later, James is fit and well.

James had never been admitted to hospital before but last year Glenys was diagnosed with cancer which has not returned since her treatment.

James said: "I saw an awful lot of hospitals last year. I did not want to see another hospital.

"Because I am normally so well Glenys was not used to seeing me ill.

"I was annoyed because on the day I was struck down it was my father-in-law's birthday and we had been due to go out for a meal. It spoilt my holiday and his birthday and caused a lot of worry."