‘Dancing With the Stars’ Judge Carrie Ann Inaba Updates After Emergency Surgery

Carrie Ann Inaba dealt with a rather scary situation recently. Us Weekly reported that the Dancing With the Stars judge underwent an emergency appendectomy. But, thankfully, Inaba shared an update with her fans to let them know that she’s on the road to recovery. 

On Thursday, Inaba told her followers that she underwent an emergency appendectomy last week. She noted that even though it was “quite a painful experience,” she also knows that “it’s a gift to even feel this pain.” Inaba added, “I realize after speaking with my doctor that it could have been much worse.” The DWTS personality continued to explain that her appendicitis attack happened “suddenly” and “seemingly out of nowhere,” which is, unfortunately, the norm for the condition. 

“And when you are in that much pain, the last thing you want to do is go anywhere,” Inaba said on Instagram. “And when you have [an] 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. I was wrong.” The Talk alum went on to share that she first realized something was seriously wrong when she began “violently” vomiting, which she said, “knocked me off my feet.” 

“I should have gone [to the hospital] when I couldn’t stand without excruciating pain but I honestly didn’t want to leave my [pets alone], and I’m so accustomed to pain — [I] thought I should let it play out,” Inaba continued. After heading to Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the medical staff was able to get the situation under control. As Inaba shared, “Thankfully, my appendix will not be bothering me anymore.”

Inana noted that she is used to dealing with medical issues since she has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. She explained to Health Digest in October 2022 that she has had to navigate multiple illnesses including lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren’s Syndrome. How does she manage to deal with it all?

“What I’ve been doing and how I manage my life with autoimmune disease is very carefully,” Inaba related. “One of the biggest gifts of having autoimmune conditions is that you become much more aware of how fragile your health can be. With autoimmune conditions, there’s so little that they know about it that there’s so much space to grow and learn and be your own best advocate.”