Organ Donation and the Older Brain

July 20, 2018 by JoAnna 26 Comments

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “organ.” Our host, Linda Hill, instructed us to “Talk about an organ or base your post on the theme of them … or one,” and as always to “Have fun!”

For many years I’ve been an organ donor. I don’t remember when I first checked that box on my driver’s license application. It could have been the very first time which was something like 40+ years ago. That might have been the best time for someone to get one of my organs, though my liver was not in the best shape in my early twenties having to sort through a variety of substances. It got better after that phase. But now, my organs have aged. Like fine whine? Ha! It was  supposed to be wine. But my digestive system has been known to whine when I get too stressed. My body is better at letting me know when I’m stressed. In my twenties, it just kept plugging along without much complaint.

Now, is it even practical to be an organ donor? I mean, as we age, how valuable are our organs to people needing transplants and such. Wear and tear adds up. But lest I become too negative (I don’t want my body to pick up on this), I’d like to acknowledge that my brain knows a lot of stuff. Yes, I have trouble accessing important information like why I came into the room (Linda is not alone) or where I put my phone, but I know how to budget. I remember the formula for photosynthesis. I know many whole theme songs from TV shows from the 70s, like this one.

 

Of course, they’re not doing brain transplants yet, right?  If they did, would a recipient of my brain know the theme to Gilligan’s Island? That might not be as practical as getting Spock’s brain, but it would be entertaining in it’s random imagination and streams of consciousness.  Still, Spock’s brain would be fascinating. It sure was a hot commodity in this episode of Star Trek.

 

 

That’s what you get from this 62 year old brain.

For more information on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday, please visit:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-21-18/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!