re: Worst physical pain you ever had?

Having fluid drained from my chest cavity via a needle inserted between my ribs. The needle hurt. But the worst was that as they drained the fluid (actually blood) this allowed my lungs to expand, causing uncontrollable coughing for a few minutes. This was happening about two weeks after I’d had my sternum cut in half and all my ribs broken during emergency open-heart surgery. The pain in my chest when I was coughing was indescribable.

And I had to have this done twice.