At the age of five I was a sickly kid, with monthly throat infections that spread to my eardrums, making my ears hurt as if some angry god were throwing darts at them. My parents brought me to specialists, who recommended a tonsillectomy. It was the prevailing wisdom in the 1950s. Today the tonsils are widely believed to perform an immune function, but at that time no one thought tonsils did anything other than become infected.
My parents gave me a book called Peter Ponsil Lost His Tonsil. The book had bright pictures showing what tonsils looked like. It showed Peter in the hospital with smiling nurses and doctors. It showed him at home after the operation, laughing with his parents and eating ice cream and opening presents. But it glossed over the actual trip to the operating room.
