The pages were just as clean as they had been when they were first been bound. It was the year 1946 and I thumbed through to find the entry that I sought so many decades later. And there it was. Filed neatly under the heading " tonsils. "

 A comment from contributor peter mack “I tips me hat to you as well mate. Your tonsils are worth bottlin'”,  stirred some long-forgotten memories in the dusty recesses of a wise mind.

 Nothing to do with Malcolm - just me trying to find some cartoons that fit the article... no appendix or prostrates were removed in the writing of this article. 

I had for many years as a teenager enjoyed a somewhat dubious relationship with the aforementioned tonsils, which are actually very interesting … if I may digress and become a tad technical jargon before I continue my tale of nostalgic wanderings to the library of my memory.

The tonsils are a set of lymphoid organs consisting of the adenoid tonsil, two tubal tonsils, two palatine tonsils, and the lingual tonsils, and these organs play an important role in the immune system.

When used unqualified, the term most commonly refers specifically to the palatine tonsils, which are two lymphoid organs situated at either side of the back of the human throat. The palatine tonsils and the adenoid tonsil are organs consisting of lymphoepithelial tissue located near the oropharynx and nasopharynx (parts of the throat).

But, back to my story.

I had observed that a close inspection of these interesting structures revealed that they were prone to collecting small deposits of white cheesy substance which interested me. The throat was not sore, so I was tempted to take a closer look, and careful and deft manipulation of a wooden meat skewer happily resulted in procuring a sample, much to the horror of my mother, concerned more about the method employed rather than the successful result. 

As an upcoming young chemist ( though I did not know this at the time ) such things as infected tonsils were of great interest. 

After a few weeks of this fascinating exercise at which I had become quite adept, mother finally called time and carted me off to our local GP. The Doctor ensured that arrangements were made for removal of the tonsils and this operation took place in due course.

On awakening, I was enjoying the soothing effect of ice cream which was given to take care of any sore throat and remarked to the nurse that my throat was fine, but my tongue was very sore.

 

The reason for this is the main point of the story. It appears that after the operation I was in recovery, and another patient in the room noticed that I seemed to be doing somewhat poorly and he summoned assistance.

It was found that I had " swallowed my tongue "  and was on the way out. The efforts with an instrument to retrieve the wayward tongue caused the resultant pain, but had it not been for an aware observer I would not be here today. What on earth was a swallowed tongue?

The fragile thread of our life can so easily depend on chance.

As someone I know often says, there is a lesson to be learned there. 

I survived.