What modern marvel do you appreciate most?

NOTE:  This essay was written 7/26/2011.  My Dad passed away after it was written. So much for Modern Medicine.  Still great, but not as great as I had hoped.

  As I write this, my Hero, my role model, My Dad, is in the hospital.  Dad is in need of assistance from some very skilled medical technicians, nurses, and doctors, and he is getting a lot of help.

On the way to visit Dad in the hospital the other day, I was thinking of all the advances in medicine, just in the last few years.  Modern Marvels, if you will.  20 years ago, HIV was a death sentence within 3 years.  Now someone with HIV can expect a normal lifespan. 

And Cancer? An automatic killer just a few years ago, Cancer is now routinely cured. Several people in our family have had cancer, and most have passed on. But in recent years, a couple of my Uncles lived many years beyond the original prognosis. One is still kicking Cancer’s butt today. 

Then there’s Lasik.  I have had glasses since I was 6.  I was so nearsighted I couldn’t see my own face in a mirror unless my nose was touching it.  Now, thanks to Lasik, I can function without glasses. 

And what about joint replacements?  People with degenerated knees, or hips, can get replacements and, within a few short weeks, be walking better than they had in years, thanks to the modern marvels of medical technology. In the past couple months 2 of our family members have had joint replacement, and they are both walking well now.

But the modern marvel at the top of my list, the one I am counting on most, is in the field of cardiac medicine.  I told ya that my Ol’ Man is in the hospital.  He has a bad ticker. Doctors have tried all sorts of stuff over the years to help his heart work well enough, and most of it has helped. Recent discoveries of better medication, implanted defibrillators, and medical science in general, have kept Dad with us, and every extra day is appreciated, but he still needs more help. The new “marvel” is called a Left Ventricular Assist Device, or “heart pump”. It can pump blood when your heart just can’t do it anymore. I very much appreciate all the medical “Modern Marvels” that touch all of us in one way or another every single day, but if Dad is a decent candidate to get a heart pump, that particular modern marvel will become my all time favorite.