Umbilicus

As a Nurse in the Operating Room, I have the opportunity to prepare patients for surgery. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who neglect their belly buttons. Please, I beg of you, clean your belly button regularly. After the patient is asleep, we scrub the surgical site and surrounding area. Many surgeries these days are done by laparoscopic surgery. We use soapy cotton swabs to scrub the umbilicus. I have pulled the most disgusting things out of people's belly buttons. Sometimes, no matter how hard we scrub with those cotton swabs, we cannot get everything out and the surgeon ends up having to do additional cleaning. One such case recently stands out in my mind. The doctor had to use forceps to get everything out of the belly button. WOW! The thing the doctor pulled out of this person's belly button was about as large as a kidney bean and as hard as a rock. I have no idea how long all that had been building up. Yuck! Not much makes me nauseous, but this did. Please clean your belly button, teach your children to clean their belly buttons, and tell your friends to clean their belly buttons. Just think of the Umbilicus as the body's Black Hole. Missing the remote? Might check your belly button. :)