Sunday, December 30, 2007

Vestigiality


Poor dude. Days after even the most liberal of health care plans would kick out a heart transplant recipient, Dennis is still languishing in the hospital. He's had complications, palpitations, and undulations related to the surgical removal of his vermiform appendix. So much trouble for an organ that probably has no function (I know, I know, recent evidence says that it may have functionality related to the immune system, or perhaps gut flora, but that is unimportant when you are in pain).

Anyhow, Dennis, I hope you get better soon. And if the whole is better that the sum of the parts, well then you are getting less complicated, at least.

:)

P.S. Incidentally, Dennis, treat your sphincter with care (from now on), because:

"Doctors in the last decade have stopped removing the appendix during other surgical procedures as a routine precaution, because it can be successfully transplanted into the urinary tract to rebuild a sphincter muscle and reconstruct a functional bladder." - Wikipedia

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