SICKQ@!!!!!!AgaIn2!!!!!
I'm staying in this house for like, the rest of my life. Ugh, I hate how I'm always ill in one way or another! AGH! I don't want to get into it though...
The doctor's was horrible. I almost fainted when they drew blood. I usually don't mind the sight of blood, but it was making me really lightheaded to be losing some blood, especially after all that I'd been losing for the past month. It's possible that I'm anemic, which really sucks, though it might explain why I get dizzy every time I stand up or walk more than 10 feet. They put me on the pill again to fix my irregularities. I was looking at the little container that counts down the days, it's so complicated! Haha, my mom and I stared and played with it for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to change the date. We felt so stupid.
There was a fun part of my checkup, though, when I got an ultrasound. I got to see my insides on a computer screen, it was awesome. I was all squirmy inside, it was gross, I saw my lunch. And my spleen. In big letters, there was this..thing labeled SPLEEN. Which got me thinking, what the hell is a spleen anyway? So I did some research.
Just What Does the Spleen Do Anyway?
Shaped much like a loose fist and tucked under the left side of the diaphragm, the spleen is the most ignored and misunderstood of all organs. After all, we read numerous times that someone in an automobile accident or a fight has a ruptured spleen so the spleen is removed (splenectomy) and life goes on.
What we don't read about is that splenectomized people later have problems with overwhelming bacterial infections of the blood (sepsis). What does this suggest as the function of the spleen?
The spleen receives blood from an artery off of the aorta. After passing through an intricate meshwork of tiny blood vessels, the blood continues to the liver. The blood vessels of the spleen are surrounded by nests of B lymphocytes - mainly of the memory type. As the blood slowly moves through the spleen, it is monitored by T-cells for any non-self invaders. If some suspicious cell or molecule is detected, it is presented to the resident B-cells for a match to an appropriate memory B-cell. Once a matching B-cell is activated, the cell divides rapidly and begins producing antibodies directed against the invading antigen.
The spleen blood vessels are also lined with macrophages which swallow and digest debris in the blood such as worn out red blood cells and platelets. In a disease such as mononucleosis, the macrophages in the spleen become overactive and trap a higher number of white blood cells. In the process, the spleen becomes swollen and may even rupture.
And then I remembered a poem I wrote in fifth grade about Turtles in which I mentioned spleens. So I looked through my old notebooks and found it. Here's the spleen excerpt:
From "Turtles":
Turtles are cute
Turtles are green
Turtles are slow
And they have a spleen
And that got me thinking...I fucking suck as a poet! Damn!
But that's ok, 'cause I saw my spleen.
I had my first driving lesson yesterday (finally). It went well, waaaay beyond everyone's expectations. If you know me, and you know how clumsy and accident prone I am, you wouldn't want me behind the wheel of a car, I understand. But no! It was great. The intructor was surprised because, according to her, I learned in one hour what most people take 6 hours to learn. She just let me go by myself for a while without having to do or say anything, which I thought was pretty good for my first time. I just have a little trouble making sharp turns.
Well, I'm out like a newborn's bellybutton!
-Mikeyyyyyyyyy
The doctor's was horrible. I almost fainted when they drew blood. I usually don't mind the sight of blood, but it was making me really lightheaded to be losing some blood, especially after all that I'd been losing for the past month. It's possible that I'm anemic, which really sucks, though it might explain why I get dizzy every time I stand up or walk more than 10 feet. They put me on the pill again to fix my irregularities. I was looking at the little container that counts down the days, it's so complicated! Haha, my mom and I stared and played with it for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to change the date. We felt so stupid.
There was a fun part of my checkup, though, when I got an ultrasound. I got to see my insides on a computer screen, it was awesome. I was all squirmy inside, it was gross, I saw my lunch. And my spleen. In big letters, there was this..thing labeled SPLEEN. Which got me thinking, what the hell is a spleen anyway? So I did some research.
Just What Does the Spleen Do Anyway?
Shaped much like a loose fist and tucked under the left side of the diaphragm, the spleen is the most ignored and misunderstood of all organs. After all, we read numerous times that someone in an automobile accident or a fight has a ruptured spleen so the spleen is removed (splenectomy) and life goes on.
What we don't read about is that splenectomized people later have problems with overwhelming bacterial infections of the blood (sepsis). What does this suggest as the function of the spleen?
The spleen receives blood from an artery off of the aorta. After passing through an intricate meshwork of tiny blood vessels, the blood continues to the liver. The blood vessels of the spleen are surrounded by nests of B lymphocytes - mainly of the memory type. As the blood slowly moves through the spleen, it is monitored by T-cells for any non-self invaders. If some suspicious cell or molecule is detected, it is presented to the resident B-cells for a match to an appropriate memory B-cell. Once a matching B-cell is activated, the cell divides rapidly and begins producing antibodies directed against the invading antigen.
The spleen blood vessels are also lined with macrophages which swallow and digest debris in the blood such as worn out red blood cells and platelets. In a disease such as mononucleosis, the macrophages in the spleen become overactive and trap a higher number of white blood cells. In the process, the spleen becomes swollen and may even rupture.
And then I remembered a poem I wrote in fifth grade about Turtles in which I mentioned spleens. So I looked through my old notebooks and found it. Here's the spleen excerpt:
From "Turtles":
Turtles are cute
Turtles are green
Turtles are slow
And they have a spleen
And that got me thinking...I fucking suck as a poet! Damn!
But that's ok, 'cause I saw my spleen.
I had my first driving lesson yesterday (finally). It went well, waaaay beyond everyone's expectations. If you know me, and you know how clumsy and accident prone I am, you wouldn't want me behind the wheel of a car, I understand. But no! It was great. The intructor was surprised because, according to her, I learned in one hour what most people take 6 hours to learn. She just let me go by myself for a while without having to do or say anything, which I thought was pretty good for my first time. I just have a little trouble making sharp turns.
Well, I'm out like a newborn's bellybutton!
-Mikeyyyyyyyyy