March 15, 2013

"Wanna see something gross?"

Matt takes med school seriously and is hard working and respectful of human beings.

That said, while he is studying the human body and its various ailments, he occasionally asks me this question:

"Wanna see something gross?"

To this, I always say, "No."
Followed occasionally by a curious, "What is it?"
and then sometimes an equally curious (but kind of scared) "Okay, show me."

After viewing the medical image on his computer, I usually silently vow never to say yes again.  Only to say yes again after some time.  And the cycle continues.

My eyes were most recently assaulted by an image of a "bezoar."  BE WARNED.  It is not pleasant.  If your curiosity must be satisfied, you can view one here and here. 

Definition:  A bezoar is a ball of swallowed foreign material (usually hair or fiber) that collects in the stomach and fails to pass through the intestines.

Doctors, thus, have to remove bezoars surgically.  I had no idea that there are some people 
who eat such large amounts of their hair, or the carpet.  It saddens me for them because their psychiatric disease is real and is hurting them.

After seeing that grotesque image of undigestible stuff taken into someone's body where it had no nutritional value and served no good purpose, I started to think if perhaps I may be taking in too much of something (either through television or the internet or my own thoughts), that, though not evil, has no value or benefit to me and is creating a "bezoar" of sorts in me.  Hmmm.


Matt also asked this question to me the other night when his mind had evidently hit a studying wall:

"If humans had elf ears, would you want them?"

After thinking long and hard, I determined, "No, I would not want them" for the simple reason that they may get in the way and burn easily when I was curling my hair.

1 comment:

  1. haha this makes me laugh and gag! I love your analogy too! And funny thing is, I have felt like during the pregnancy I have had a hair ball stuck in my throat, gross and makes me gag all the time. I promise I am not eating hair or carpet though :O)

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