What is the appendix

An appendix is something that is added on to something else. The appendix of a book is a number of pages in the back of the book, added to the regular pages of the book. There is an appendix in the human body also. It is attached to the large intestine, one of the places in the body where we digest our food. This appendix is small and shaped like a worm. You may hear it called the vermiform appendix, because t ermijorm means "shaped like a worm." The vermiform appendix is just a small tube, with one end opening into the large intestine, and the other end closed.

The appendix is absolutely unnecessary to the human body. It does not help to digest food. The only thing it can do is cause trouble. Hardly any of the food you eat goes into the appendix. Usually when food enters the appendix it is easily squeezed out again. But sometimes something hard may get caught in the appendix. Then the appendix may become very sore. When this happens to a person, doctors say he has appendicitis. Appendicitis may start like an ordinary stomach ache. You may feel sick at your stomach, and have fever.

Soon your stomach will hurt when you touch it. When this happens, it is important not to eat and even more important not to take a laxative to move your bowels. If your stomach remains sore for several hours, a doctor should be called. A doctor can quickly tell if a person lias appendicitis. He examines the stomach to see if it is swollen and tender. He also takes a drop of blood for laboratory examination. If the examination shows there are many more white cells in the blood than there should be, the doctor knows there is infection somewhere in the body. If the stomach is sore and tender, he suspects the infection is in the appendix. Sometimes appendicitis goes away in a short time. Sometimes the doctor must treat it. Sometimes an operation is necessary.

An operation to remove the appendix is called an appendectomy. The greatest danger in appendicitis is that the infected appendix will burst and scatter the infection in the abdomen. It is safer to operate on an infected appendix before it bursts. The operation to remove an infected appendix is a very simple one. Within a few days the patient is able to leave the hospital. A person who has had his appendix removed has lost something he never needed and will never miss.