Nothing immediately came to mind for the letter U so I resorted to using Google to search for words starting with U. There are a lot of them, many using the prefix un- but one word, after the Um and Ugh, jumped out at me.Uvula - that little dangly thing at the back of your throat that, when touched, makes you gag. Through a lot of research, and a little guessing, scientists now know that the uvula produces a lot of our saliva and it also facilitates our speech.
One thing is for sure, unless you like GROSS, don't Google Images for uvula. Ugh!
But the reason this word jumped out at me is more personal. My late husband was diagnosed with head and neck cancer. His primary site was his uvula. His surgery required the removal of the entire soft palate. For anyone interested in more information, you can follow the journal I maintained (with photos).
Please ask your dentist to screen for oral cancers during your annual checkups.
Wow! this started out as quite a light-hearted post, but has such a heavy ending. I didn't know the uvula could be a target. Thanks for the warning.
ReplyDelete