Vicky Spleen -

It started with a dull ache during a pickup soccer game. Vicky, being Vicky, ignored it. Two days later, she was pale, dizzy, and complaining that her left shoulder hurt—which is weird, because she hadn’t injured her shoulder. That shoulder pain? It’s called Kehr’s sign . When a spleen is bleeding or swollen, it irritates the diaphragm, and your brain gets confused. It thinks the pain is coming from the shoulder.

Turns out, that was the right question. Let’s be honest: nobody thinks about their spleen. It’s the wallflower of the organ world. The liver gets all the detox glory. The heart gets the romance. The spleen? It hangs out quietly on the left side of your abdomen, filtering blood and looking for trouble. vicky spleen

Vicky is fine now. She named her surgical scar “Spencer” (because she’s that person). And every time she gets a vaccine, she jokes, “Pour one out for my spleen.” It started with a dull ache during a pickup soccer game