…could save your life.
I think that in the future medical professional will be amazed at the ignorance of their predecessors, not just on dietary issues, but on their willingness to remove perhaps vital organs at the first sign of trouble. When I was a kid, many of my cohorts had their tonsils and adenoids removed (as did my step brother) almost routinely. I feel fortunate that I’m still whole. I think that the medical community has figured out that these are more useful items than they used to believe, but if this theory is correct, they will have to rethink approaches to appendicitis as well, perhaps even coming up with an artificial one (or regrowing with stem cells?).
[Via Geek Press]
Well, considering that my appendix almost killed me in March of ’09, I’ll consider it a fair trade. NB: when you have major pain in the abdomen, do not wait until you feel a slight “pop” there to go to the doctor. I have a 6+ inch scar where they had to go in and evacuate the infection and remove a bit of gangrenous intestine wall because I waited and the appendix had ruptured. The week-long post-op pain was no joy, either. If I had gone earlier, it would have been a simple laproscopic removal with three small scars and I could have gone home days earlier in far less pain.
It’s good to know that the appendix is important, but when it acts up, just like with other important organs, something has to be done about it.
I get occasional abdominal pain, but it’s always just something I ate. Stupid evolution and its ambiguous error codes…
The medical solution to a missing organ is an organ transplant.
As TFA (this is a Slashdot expression for The Fine Article — are we allowed to use that here?) suggests that what the appendix provides is a reservoir of beneficial bacteria, which you may need if you are ever in the hospital again receiving strong antibiotics.
And the medical treatment for one of no appendix? A fecal-matter transplant! No joke, this is a cutting edge medical procedure that has worked in many patients when they got over the “Ewww!” factor.
This recalls this exchange with Dr. McCoy from Star Trek IV in a 1980’s hospital 🙂
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092007/quotes
McCoy: [McCoy, masked and in surgical garb, passes an elderly woman groaning on a gurney in the hallway] What’s the matter with you?
Elderly patient: [weakly] Kidney
[pause]
Elderly patient: dialysis.
McCoy: [geniunely surprised] Dialysis?
[musing to himself]
McCoy: What is this, the Dark Ages?
[He turns back to the patient and hands her a large white pill]
McCoy: Here,
[pause]
McCoy: you swallow that, and if you have any more problems, just call me!
[He pats her cheek and leaves]
A half hour Later
Elderly patient: [the dialysis patient is being wheeled down the hall after being given the pill by McCoy]
[joyfully]
Elderly patient: The doctor gave me a pill, and I grew a new kidney!
Intern #1: [in disbelief, walking ahead of the patient] Fully functional?
Intern #2: [incredulous] Fully functional!
Yes, bring on the future!
If they didn’t understand the function, they assumed it was a vestigial. In those days, they also believed that we used only 1/3 of the brain. Do you remember that? I always thought that was absurd.
They thought that because they were only using one third of their brain.
I saw some numbers in the article, but not enough. My guess is that in the wild your appendix is more likely to kill you than to save your life. The first comment kind of implies the same thing in civilized countries. They have numbers for gut reinfections, but I didn’t read closely enough to see if they had numbers for fatalities due to reinfections.
My guess is that in the wild your appendix is more likely to kill you than to save your life.
Eating bad food can kill you too, and not just directly.
They used to remove people’s prefrontal cortical lobes, too. However, I believe I have met a number of people in whom that organ was in fact vestigial.
They can often be identified by the Obama bumper stickers on their cars…
willingness to remove perhaps vital organs at the first sign of trouble
What, if anything, does this mean for circumcision? 😉
They’re already in trouble at the age they’re circumsized? Maybe the Catholics were right about Original Sin.
I can tell you if a Sewage Treatment plant biology is killed-off by an upset condition, the solution is to re-seed the plant with mixed liquor suspended solids (activated sludge) from another treatment plant.
What causes an upset you ask? Imagine if the local Pepsi bottler made a huge bad batch of Orange Soda! (Low pH, high BOD) Imagine them crusing cans to reclaim the aluminum in an industrial crusher and the floor drain is tied into the sewer system!
Imagine no longer, it happened several years ago and it killed the plant.