Pectus Excavatum

THAT'S ME!

I missed watching The Last Leg last night, the final episode of this series having gone out the previous Friday.  One of the few programmes we have at the moment that's both extremely funny and delivers some much needed topical political satire (notably on brexshit).  There will be a new series in the Autumn.

On the penultimate show of the recent series one of the presenters, Josh Widdecombe, was absent.  He'd been taken into hospital to have his appendix removed.  So, on his return, he jokingly claimed he was now as disabled as his co-hosts, Adam Hills and Alex Brooker.  And I recalled that a series or so ago I'd had a look to see if Widdecombe did have any disabilities.  The answer's no.  But his Wikipedia entry mentions he has 'pectus excavatum'.  Curious, I clicked on the link and up came a photograph of a male torso.

Hang on... that's me.  Well, almost.  My own indentation is nowhere near as severe as the one portrayed.  But I've had this thing for 63 years and never knew it had a posh name.  Many decades ago a doctor suggested I could undergo an op to have my chest bone moved in some way, but it seemed rather an extreme 'cure' for something that I hadn't really ever thought of as a problem.

It did get me laughed at at school, and I was sometimes called 'Biafra' in the changing rooms (you have to be a certain age to get that reference...).  I was never much of a runner because my lung capacity is a bit reduced compared to normal (but it's not going to stop me from walking).  And I was rushed into hospital once because my GP thought an x-ray showed my heart was enlarged - turns out it's just a bit squashed due to my peculiar shape.

So it's not a problem, not a worry, but now I know it's got a Latin name.   Thanks Josh.