August 2005--around the 20th this time last year--I was in the hospital so:

Appendixes in humans are vestigial (my favorite word) organs. Much like other vestigial body parts--hips in snakes or brains in politicians--we don't use our appendixes anymore but most people still have one.

In these animals and others (but not us) the appendix helps break down plant material/cellulose.
In HUMANS you have a 7% chance of developing acute appendicitis. Before 20th century medicine a case of it was usually fatal.

According to some medical texts the appendix, like the tonsils, is in a constant state of very very very mild inflammation. Because of its goofy location it is easily blocked and THAT's when your tummy starts to hurt in a strange spot, you can't pass gas, you may start to get a fever, chills, nausea and be stuck in the ER for five hours while they determine you've got some appendix troubles...

Appendectomal Timeline and Fun:

1763: French surgeon Claudius Aymand performs first successful appendectomy.
1886: First U.S. appendectomy performed by Dr Robert Hall...who died of a ruptured appendix in 1897. Ouch.
1939: "Something is not right!" Madeline gets her appendix out in Paris.
2003: World's longest appendix of 9.2 inches removed from a 55 year old Pakistani man. Yikes.
2005: A friend at work and I BOTH come down with appendicitis a few hours apart. We both undergo laparoscopic appendectomies (different hospitals and surgeons.) Our office thinks it might be contagious. Geniuses.

...I think that is enough for now. Surgery of any kind is pretty gruesome* to describe. The biggest thing about this whole experience for me was POST surgery. A few days after coming home from the hospital I discovered my right arm was so weak* I couldn't draw or write. That freaked me out. The thought of losing my life/the anesthesia bill was one thing but losing my ability to draw was heart breaking. I was already in a lot of pain and super depressed. And I've got a very inventive imagination. So I imagined not being able to draw for the rest of my life and being stuck in a dead end job. Eventually my arm came back to me. But August of last year I did some deep soul searching while looking at my three new scars.

So! Here I am in 2006--appendix free and happy to have use of my drawing arm so I can draw ALL DAMN DAY.

Jaime

*Okay so I found out from Bebeth, fellow appendectomer, that during surgery they inflate your abdomen so the surgeons have room to manuever. When you are sewn back up they DON'T uninflate you! The air then needs to dissipate/be absorbed by your body somehow (Docs feel free to correct me) and it often travels up. So you might have a bit of air by your shoulder or back muscles or something. This pressure was freaking out my right arm making it too weak to draw or write for about a week. I am praying that kids who get appendectomies these days are better informed than I was by my nurses and doctors (really iffy bedside manners.) My surgeon was wonderful, Dr. Wan-Lin Horng, but I really didn't get to talk to her since I was knocked out for most of our time together.