Heeeeere Kidney Kidney Kidney! - Monday 8/20/2007

Yes, I'm looking up interesting facts about kidneys online. Why, you ask?

I had a sonogram a couple of weeks ago (stupid painful gallbladder) and they couldn't see my left kidney. So they kicked it upstairs to the CT man, and he seems to have confirmed that I have only one kidney!

That's a little startling, but much nicer than something massive in front of the kidney obscuring the view, for my money.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, this means I should give up contact sports, including "boxing, field hockey, football, ice hockey, Lacrosse, martial arts, rodeo, soccer and wrestling."

Dang, this is going to put a serious crimp in my exercise routine.

Okay. Honestly. Not so much.

But I'm really glad I didn't know this growing up because I have always considered myself pretty strong and healthy. And this doesn't mean I 'm not, as far as I can tell from my trusty Google searching.

But I probably wouldn't have ridden that electronic bull at that cowboy bar in celebration of my 21st birthday, and that is a memory I do treasure.

Apparently 1 in 750 people has only one kidney (though most singletons are men). I was telling Hydra this via cellphone while driving the 5 in rush hour traffic and he said, "There are probably that many people around you right now!"

And I said, "They should thank me!"

I've flirted with the idea of a tattoo now and again, but haven't really been motivated. This has gotten me thinking that one might really be advisable.

Perhaps a small diagram of a pair of kidneys with a red circle/bar in front of the left one.

Or better yet, a little note on my right side: Dear EMS Tech: There is only this one kidney. Please contact family members for replacement parts.

I am a secret organ Sneetch.



How many kidneys do you have?