Polyps

Somewhere inside you, something is growing that does not actually belong there. A small, stalked outgrowth on a mucous membrane — in the nose, in the intestine, in the uterus, sometimes in the stomach or throat. Medically, a polyp is a benign tissue growth. It is not malignant. It is not acutely threatening. But it is also not coincidental.

Mucous membranes are the fine boundary layers at which your interior comes into contact with the outside. They are the places where your body takes in what it welcomes — and repels what disturbs it. When a polyp grows at one of these boundaries, something has settled there that actually wanted to be processed. An irritation that was not let through. A reaction that lasted too long. A response that remained in the tissue instead of dissolving.