Poll: Have you had your Tonsils or Appendix Removed?

[SteveG1988]

I don't think any of my classmates in elementary school had either out. Share your experiences. I had tonsilitis once, wasn't bad enough to remove.

[Zeffy]

I still retain both. One time I thought I had appendicitis (major stomach pains), but it wasn't.

[bandit957]

I had my bip bone removed.

[jp the roadgeek]

Did have my gall bladder removed.

[bugo]

No, but Steve Gum has had his brain removed.

[roadman65]

I have had my appendix removed.

[hbelkins]

Tonsils (and adenoids) removed when I was in elementary school (and never missed a day of school after that, because most of my absences as a youngster were for sore throats. I still have my appendix; I hope I never have appendicitis because I don't look forward to any surgery. The tonsillectomy in my youth was enough anesthesia and IVs for me.

[adventurernumber1]

I still have both my tonsils and my appendix, and hope to never have them removed 

[mhh]

I was one of the few students in my second-grade class (1967-1968) who did not have his tonsils removed that year. I grew up in a small town with only one doctor; he found reasons to remove just about everyone's tonsils at that age. My parents, however, took me to a pediatrician in a neighboring city with a more conservative and less financially lucrative opinion about tonsillectomies. My appendix also remains intact.

[SteveG1988]

I was one of the few students in my second-grade class (1967-1968) who did not have his tonsils removed that year. I grew up in a small town with only one doctor; he found reasons to remove just about everyone's tonsils at that age. My parents, however, took me to a pediatrician in a neighboring city with a more conservative and less financially lucrative opinion about tonsillectomies. My appendix also remains intact.

I read somewhere that at one time both were deemed to be worthless, now they know that they both serve a purpose.

[J N Winkler]

I know very few people of my generation who have had their tonsils removed.  The only one I can think of offhand was a woman whose tonsils were infected and quite seriously inflamed for several months before the operation.

[1995hoo]

I have not had either removed.

I've had tonsillitis one or two times as an adult (don't ever recall having it as a kid) and the prescription I got from my doctor cured it without having them removed. I've also had tonsil stones maybe twice. Disgusting things that are a pain in the arse to get rid of because things like Q-Tips trigger my gag reflex when I poke them around in my throat. Thankfully, the stones have never been the really big nasty ones.

[bandit957]

Question for the group: If you had an organ removed, who would you mail the organ to?

[bulldog1979]

I still have my tonsils and appendix, but I had my adenoids removed as a kid.

[vtk]

I had my wisdom teeth out a few years ago. In a brief period of partial consciousness, I was being moved (from operating chair to gurney or gurney to recovery bed) and I asked "who turned up the gravity?"  I'm sure all they heard was unintelligible mumbles, if anything.

My brother had his out the same day. On the drive home, he started mumbling something that sounded like the word "football". Mom was like, "what?" and he said, more clearly, "Football! Jerry Rice, touchdown!" as if that were some kind of important message. I, on the other hand, was lucid enough to navigate.

[hm insulators]

Still have my tonsils and appendix, and hope I'll never need them removed. After my hernia surgery and subsequent aftereffects on my "private areas," I hope never to see the inside of an operating room for a while!

[tchafe1978]

I never had my tonsils removed, but have had my appendix removed. It happened when I went to the doctor for some abdominal discomfort I'd been having for a few days. The took abdominal x-rays to check my gall bladder and saw that it was full of stones. So I was put into surgery that same day to have my gall bladder removed. In the process of removing my gall bladder, the doctors noticed that my appendix was also inflamed, so it came out too. Two birds with one stone, so to speak. The surgery was done with laprascopes, and the only scar I have is a small one just above my belly button, even though they made about 5 small incisions. I would have gone home the same day, but since I had both things out at once, they kept me overnight as a precaution. That is quite a change from when my dad has his appendix burst and had to have emergency surgery in the mid-1980's. He was in the hospital for two weeks, mainly due to the risk of infection, and ended up with a scar from the bottom of his rib cage all the way down to his waist.

[Molandfreak]

Heck, I still have my wisdom teeth in.

[Duke87]

I've never had anything removed. A dentist told me when I was 18 that I should probably have my wisdom teeth removed but I refused. Ain't nobody performing surgery on me unless there's a life-threatening problem to fix.

[bandit957]

I've had wisdom teeth pulled on 2 separate occasions, but they didn't let me mail them to anyone.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I had my wisdoms removed when I was 17, so it's always been curious to me why everybody else seems to get them out so much later than I did.

[jeffandnicole]

I had my appendix removed.  On my Birthday!!!

[english si]

I had my wisdoms removed when I was 17, so it's always been curious to me why everybody else seems to get them out so much later than I did.

I'm more curious as to why you assume everybody else gets them out (its curious to me why anyone gets them out - what's wrong with them?)

Not to mention that in this thread someone said they were offered it at 18 and refused, and another said "they are still in" like it was unusual at 19 - hardly so much later.

Which given that they come in between the ages of 17 and 25 is all at the young end!

I don't remember mine coming in at all, and know of few people who had pain or difficulties and therefore had them taken out. While many of my peers had unnecessary braces (that Simpson's episode with the big book of British smiles is owed a huge amount by Orthodontists in the UK - we want American teeth, perfect and inhuman with no minuscule overbite), I don't know anyone who had their wisdom teeth taken out for the simple reason that they were there.

[jeffandnicole]

I had my wisdoms removed when I was 17, so it's always been curious to me why everybody else seems to get them out so much later than I did.

I'm more curious as to why you assume everybody else gets them out (its curious to me why anyone gets them out - what's wrong with them?)

Not to mention that in this thread someone said they were offered it at 18 and refused, and another said "they are still in" like it was unusual at 19 - hardly so much later.

Which given that they come in between the ages of 17 and 25 is all at the young end!

I don't remember mine coming in at all, and know of few people who had pain or difficulties and therefore had them taken out. While many of my peers had unnecessary braces (that Simpson's episode with the big book of British smiles is owed a huge amount by Orthodontists in the UK - we want American teeth, perfect and inhuman with no minuscule overbite), I don't know anyone who had their wisdom teeth taken out for the simple reason that they were there.

I had mine out also, for the same reason many have them out - they were just crowding the other teeth forward.  Other typical reasons include that they're impacted or they're coming in crooked.  Apparently these 3 reasons are very typical of wisdom teeth, and like the appendix aren't really needed and a relatively easy surgery, so they come out.  But yeah, I've never heard of anyone taking them out, just because.

[J N Winkler]

I had mine out also, for the same reason many have them out - they were just crowding the other teeth forward.  Other typical reasons include that they're impacted or they're coming in crooked.  Apparently these 3 reasons are very typical of wisdom teeth, and like the appendix aren't really needed and a relatively easy surgery, so they come out.  But yeah, I've never heard of anyone taking them out, just because.

Often a dentist or orthodontist can tell from X-rays that there are budding wisdom teeth and that there is no room for them in the jaw.  In such cases early removal is often a matter of protecting the investment in orthodontic treatment and also scheduling the procedure and recovery during the school years.  If it cannot be scheduled for the summer, when school is not in session, then it is usually less troublesome to miss school than to take time off work and risk losing your job.  Even uncomplicated wisdom teeth removal can have an extended recovery period:  I had all four taken out at once, so my jaw was swollen for two weeks and I was on prescription opiates for 10 days.

But money is often an overriding consideration.  I know at least one person my age who complains every so often about pain from her wisdom teeth but then turns around and says she has to choose which bills to pay each month.