Tomorrow, my son will have his tonsils removed. The soft tissue at the back of throat will be excavated by a surgeon and dropped in a kidney shaped metal pan.
When I was a kid, nobody removed tonsils. Mine were especially large resulting in many bouts with strep throat, but they stayed intact. Back in the 70s, the medical profession frowned on removing those mysterious organs. They might do something that medicine was yet unaware of. I'm not sure what. Provent cancer? Provide us with superhuman strength? Communicate with aliens?
Nowadays, every trendy kid lacks tonsils and adenoids. Tonsilectomies are the thing to do.
These swings in medical practice does not exactly fill me with confidence. There's no science going on here. When it comes to my kid's health, I want to see the medical profession going along in a straight line of progress. None of this wishy/washy back and forth stuff.
Despite these trepidations, wee Jonah will be pushed in a little car into the operating room at 9:00 tomorrow.
I'll be back soon to tell you about my interview with a Times reporter about mommy blogs.
Hmmm -- I must have had trendy doctors, because I'm older than you, I think, and had the tonsil/adenoid combo when I was 7. Ear tubes, though -- they seem to be the alternative to the T&A.
Posted by: Another Damned Medievalist | January 12, 2005 at 12:58 PM
oddly enough, when I was a kid, I recall that tonsils were removed routinely. In those days it was a 3-day hospital stay, when my son had it done last year it was outpatient. So those dear departed days were admittedly some time ago..
Our pediatricians said it's always preferred to leave them in, since they do provide some protection from infections: but in some cases of chronic infection, the tonsils can actually be harboring the infection. At that point they whip 'em out. That seemed sensible.
Medical progress can't go in a straight line anymore, because we're always doing strange new things to our bodies. The weird cocktail of chemicals, steroids, hormones, antibiotics, and genetically modified foods that passes for a standard American diet; mercury accumulations; radiation from a variety of electromagnetic devices; etcetera.
At least the tonsilectomy gives the poor kid a reason to demand and consume large quantities of ice cream..
Posted by: douglas | January 12, 2005 at 02:15 PM
The scary trend oscillation for me is Caesareans. Back in the early 80s, when I worked for a pregnancy magazine, Caesareans badbadbad! Now, my pregnant friends tell me they look for doctors with *high* Caesarean rates, not low ones. Make up your minds, docs!
Posted by: meg | January 12, 2005 at 05:40 PM
Good luck to you and Jonah.
Posted by: Dr. Manhattan | January 12, 2005 at 06:46 PM
Thanks. Everything went fine. The doctor said he'll be out of school for a week, but he should recover. Hopefully, he'll sleep better now.
Posted by: Laura | January 12, 2005 at 09:38 PM
I had my tonsils removed when I was 28 years old. Extremely painful at that age but WELL worth it; I'd been suffering from the low-grade infection for years. Since then I've rarely been ill. Hope your son recovers quickly and as painlessly as possible!
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