Hello, I've been dealing with severe abdominal pain for almost a year. They finally figured out that I have a large cyst on my spleen that is pressing on my stomach. They said I can either take my spleen out or leave it as they are not 100% sure that this is causing my pain. I am a teacher so I am constantly around germs. How much more susceptible to sickness are you without a spleen? I don't know whether to take it out and resolve my pain or leave it and deal with the pain to reduce getting sick. Anyone get sick very often after spleen removal?
Hi Marie, that's definitely a tough call you face. I had my spleen removed in 1998 - 20 years this year. Mine was as a result of a sports injury. In those 20 years apart from time off for a couple of unrelated surgeries, I have probably missed less than 10 days in work. I do eat well, take antibiotics daily and get all the vaccinations I can (sepsis, Pneumococcal, hepatitis, flu). It has its downsides, mainly regular abdominal pain and tiredness, but if I was to put a label on it, I would say life impacting, rather than life changing. I have read on this forum of people who suffer ongoing ill health so I'm not saying it cant be a problem, but for me I feel I have a health management partnership with my GP and he has worked with me over the years to keep on top of things.
I cant really comment on the added complication of working with kids.
Best of Luck with whichever option you choose
Dave