Life without a Lung and other Vital Organs

Listening to the new Pope Francis address the crowds on a cold, wet and emotional night  in St Peter’s Square you’d never have known he had only one lung.

We all know now of course. Thanks to intense press speculation and the power of the internet there’s barely a detail of his pre-pontiff life that has not been published in the 24 hours since the cardinals signaled their decision with plumes of white smoke emanating from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

And while no one is saying exactly why he underwent a pneumonectomy (surgical removal of a lung) back in the 1950s, there’s been plenty of speculation.  Back then, before antibiotics, removal of a lung wasn’t that uncommon in cases of severe pneumonia, whooping cough or TB.

Whatever the reason, living with one lung is not entirely uncommon. In America alone, it’s estimated that more than 40,000 people have only one lung. And most of them do just fine because the body tends to compensate by making the other lung grow larger.

Which got us to thinking, which other organs can you live without?

Top of the list would be the kidney.  Most humans have two kidneys, but need only one to survive. However some people may be born with only one, while others agree to part with one for donation. Generally, people can live with one kidney with few or no health problems. People can even live with no kidneys, but they of course require frequent renal dialysis.

Then there’s the appendix. Nobody is exactly sure what the appendix is for and no one is really ever aware that they have an appendix until it becomes inflamed or ruptures and has to be removed. Once gone, after a brief period of recovery, life goes on as before.

And, as one in three women over the age of 60, who have undergone hysterectomy know you can live quite comfortably without a uterus. For younger women, there may be some wrench over the loss of fertility, but for others the cessation of monthly periods may be the cause of celebration.

Men can also survive without their reproductive organs – should cancer necessitate removal of either the testes or penis.

Humans can also live without their spleen should it have to be removed because of trauma or medical conditions such as thrombocytopenia. However because the spleen is part of the immune system, those who have undergone splenectomy are more prone to infections.

We can also survive without most of our gastrointestinal tract too. The stomach, gallbladder, pancreas and colon can be removed and although each is associated with it’s own challenges and problems, loss of these organs is not incompatible with life.

And the list goes on…  Today thanks to advances in biomedical engineering, people can even live without a heart.

While we wouldn’t wish the loss of an organ on anyone, it’s good to know just how dispensable most of them are! Turns out our vital organs may not be so vital after all.

Happy Birthday Mr. President – Get well soon!

As many American’s celebrate Presidents’ Day,  SRxA’s Word on Health has been musing about the health of America’s founding father.  Although George Washington was physically strong, he was not the indominatable human force that popular history paints. He was often sick, particularly with infections. These were serious infections, many of them life-threatening.

Our research reveals that over the course of his lifetime, Washington suffered from diphtheria, malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, dysentery, quinsy, pneumonia and epiglottitis.  In later life, he had dental problems, progressive deafness, short-sightedness and infertility.

From the age of 17 to almost the end of his life, Washington had recurrent attacks of malaria. Malaria was then common in Virginia. Interestingly, an effective treatment for malaria had been discovered in the previous century. But, for some reason, Washington did not receive the treatment until 1784, when he was in his 50s.

At age 19 Washington spent time on Barbados. Around this time George developed a severe case of smallpox, which ultimately left his skin scarred for life. Shortly after returning from Barbados, Washington developed tuberculosis.

Washington had a tendency to become depressed when ill. He was haunted by premonitions of death, perhaps because his father and half-brother both died prematurely. Thomas Jefferson wrote that Washington was, in all aspects of his life, “inclined to gloomy apprehensions.”

In 1759 Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis. He was 26, she was a 28 year old widow who had borne four children during her previous marriage. Martha never became pregnant during her 40-year marriage to Washington. Given her previous fertility, it could well be concluded that the difficulty was not with her but with her husband.

Washington’s height, sterility, large hands, pockmarks, plus certain personality features and even his well-documented dental problems have led to the suggestion he had XYY syndrome.

By middle age Washington had no teeth left. Washington’s clumsy, ill-fitting dentures distorted his lips. This undoubtedly contributed to his dour expression.

No one is quite sure what killed Washington. He was in fine health at age 67 when he developed hoarseness and a sore throat. There was little alarm until he awoke in the middle of the night with difficulty breathing, almost unable to talk. A doctor was summoned, but Washington did not wait, ordering an employee to bleed him. The doctor arrived and, according to the principles of the day, bled him again. Eventually, Washington requested no further bleeding be performed, but he was bled again anyway. The bleedings inflicted by Washington’s doctors hastened his end. Some 80 ounces of blood (about 35% of his total blood volume) were removed in 12 hours.

One of the three doctors attending him objected to continued bleeding, arguing instead for tracheotomy which would have been  life-saving in epiglottitis. However, back then this treatment was considered experimental and dangerous.

Nevertheless, a  fourth physician, arrived at Mount Vernon the day after Washington died. The doctor hoped that Washington was in a suspended state, from which he could be aroused and then treated with tracheotomy.  It was proposed that the body be thawed gradually, first in cool water and then with warm blankets and rubbing of the skin, with the subsequent performance of a tracheotomy, artificial respiration at the tracheotomy site, and transfusion of lamb’s blood.

Sadly, we will never know if this would have worked as Martha Washington vetoed the plan!