Green Drainage

So, I am having some congestion issues as of late. Basically I wake up in the morning and until I go to bed at night, I am leaking fluid out of my nose and struggling with a sinus headache to the max. However, this morning when I was getting rid of the built up drainage from the night - it was kind of green!

Now, before you think of how gross this is that I am sharing this on my blog, read on. I am sure we have all had this occur! But, have you ever wondered why it was green? Well, let me tell you (since we learned last week in Patho). When you start to get a sinus infection, your immune system kicks in and goes to fight the junk that is making you so ill. As your white blood cells go fight and kill the infection, many of them die too and are sent to the lymph system. As they die, they lyse (break open) and let out their cell contents. Included in the cell contents is the nucleus, which also breaks open. Do you remember from Bio 100 what is inside the nucleus? Well, DNA is (and it has a green tint). This is what you are seeing when you have green drainage. You are actually seeing millions of strands of DNA - the DNA that codes for every since cell inside of you, that tells your cells what their function is, and that genetically makes you who you are. Pretty freakin cool, huh!

So, the next time you are sick and have green drainage, please stop and ponder the awesomeness of that green tint.