nothing like a congenital anomaly

pretty pink picture, no? that there image above is consistent with gastroschisis, which i believe i have mentioned here before, some weeks or months back. gastroschisis, of course, is a congenital fissure in the abdominal wall, usually accompanied by protrusion of the viscera. guts hanging out. fun!

the image below is of a nasopharyngeal teratoma. another sort of congenital anomaly. i transcribed a report today of a surgical excision of a sacrococcygeal teratoma. wilder than the usual fare, such as chest pain, gastroenteritis, minor lacerations, appendicitis, cholecystitis. that stuff's everyday. teratomas sure are weird. a teratoma is a tumor consisting of different types of tissue, sometimes including skin, hair, and muscle. sometimes they have teeth! maybe it's akin to an unformed twin? take a gander at this:
as if i needed more reasons not to have children! what if we had one and it looked like this?! sheesh! too many things to worry about on that front. so i'll just not.