Joke Decoder (panel 25)

Some words of “Encouragement” from Verta.

This one could have been a follow up to “Spine Potato.”  Here we see Vert — busy doing nothing but sitting and drinking CSF.  Verta who is obviously doing housework, stops to admire Vert’s growing “spondylo” [the spinal equivalent of a “beer gut”].

A “spondylo” is short for spondylolisthesis, which is a condition in which a lumbar vertebral body (L5 usually) will detach itself (because of a fracture or birth defect) and slide forward a bit.  The degree in which it slides forward can be measured on x-ray.