Pointless Announcements

As a spleen-free individual, I've been deeply moved by this video.



Now I know what I've been missing out all my life.

...or do I?

 

You don't have a spleen?
--- merged: Dec 13, 2013 at 6:06 PM ---
I can't watch that.

 

She does not. And she has the sexy scar to prove it.

 

No ma'am. I had splenic torsion* in the womb, and they removed most of it just after I was born.

*Or splenic infarction, or something. My parents told me it had "flipped over on itself, cutting off its own blood supply, and became enlarged and necrotic." Yay for having docs as parents!

 

I always knew that people can live without a spleen. Just never actually met a person without one.
I'm intrigued.
--- merged: Dec 13, 2013 at 6:12 PM ---

Have you experienced any consequences to not having a spleen?

 

Yes, aside from sexy comments.
Like impaired immunity or the like, BORLA.
--- merged: Dec 13, 2013 at 6:22 PM ---
The spleen, second only perhaps to a child in things to not have.

Sorry, I'm tipsy. I'm leaving now.

 

Nothing significant. I have a few food allergies, most of which I've grown out of over time—I couldn't eat dairy or seafood in childhood and continue to be allergic to some tree nuts—but I don't know that those necessarily have anything to do with the absent spleen.

I was put on what was supposed to be a lifetime prophylactic dosage of antibiotics in infancy. It was a deep-seeded fear of my mother's that without these antibiotics my compromised immune system (her chosen term) would be knocked down by a minor cold, leading to septic shock and death within 24 hours à la Jim Henson. I contracted fungal pneumonia in fifth grade (while still on the antibiotics) after playing on a bassoon in school band that probably hadn't been cleaned in a number of years. It's possible my so-called compromised immune system might have made me more susceptible to that illness, but maybe not.

I decided in my rebellious teen years that I was morally opposed to arbitrarily (in my mind) taking broad-spectrum antibiotics for the rest of my life, so I weaned myself off the dosage and no longer take them. In my own mind, I believe I've gotten sick fewer times since stopping the antibiotics than I had beforehand.

Thus concludes today's summary of DamnitAll's medical history.
...

I'm also quite fortunate—and happy—that @GeneticShift finds my scar sexy.

 

Spleen is a funny word.

 

Great, now I'm reading all about spleen disorders.

Also, I'm really glad my spleen removal didn't result in this.
(Yeah, maybe my mom wasn't so far off base after all. Thanks, Mom!)

 

Lots of people live long (childless) lives without spleens.

yep, still tipsy.

 

You should be tipsy more often. You're cracking me up.

 

Afraid? Should you be afraid?

 

This is awesome, but then I like things like this. That probably says something about my mental state, but frankly who gives a crap? Thanks for sharing this!!

 

"Bye, mom. I'll call you if it's just a bunch of white people who don't know how to have fun."

 

This thread has some ex-spleening to do.

 

That kid, lol.