206 Days to Go

       A lot has happened medically since I was born.  Doctors now replace body parts like a mechanic replaces a carburetor.  Are your arteries clogged with plague from eating all the wrong foods? Doctors can roto rooter  out your arteries and if needed dilate your arteries with a little metal tube.  Need a valve replaced, that can be done as well.   Is your heart running a little slow or sometimes forgets and skips several beats, then there is medicine which costs as much as a kings ransom or a pacemaker to correct the problem.  And if you are lucky  enough to be on the right list at the right time, you might just get a heart from a person much younger than you.
     My father died of a heart attack at my cousin's Bar Mitzvah party.  Although there were several doctors at the party, he could not be saved.  He loved to eat and did not do much in the way of exercise.  I really wished he had taken better care of himself.  After he died, mom said his doctors had told him that his next heart attack would be his last.  This was not his first heart attack.  He had been warned, yet he chose to continue to travel his path of self destruction.
     Even if he had eaten better and exercised, he still might not be alive today because medical advances were just not in place when he was alive! I have the same genes as my parents and because of that, I am prone to heart disease.  I have several stents leading up to my heart and take medicines to control my blood pressure and cholesterol.  And I exercise and watch what I eat, yet I still have health problems.  I don't eat red meat. On special occasions I will indulge in something caloric but the rest of the time I am a good boy.
      If patients are lucky enough to have the money and insurance, there are drugs for most any illness.  Feeling depressed because you have a phobia about driving on I-95 where big trucks are out to kill you?  There are drugs that can help you deal with your depressions and phobias. Each year, more drugs are introduced which prolong  the quality of life and we are  kept alive longer because of these drugs. Generic drugs do the same as the more expensive brands. And they cost less.  Does the doctor writing the prescription really know how much the drug is costing the patient?  If doctors had a better feel for the cost of medicine they might have more patients who actually trust them to do the right thing. I don't want a doctor to prescribe me a new drug (which is not be covered by my insurance plan) because the pharmaceutical company is giving the doctor an all expensive paid trip to the Arctic! Maybe the drug is the end all drug but money should not be the incentive! Drug companies spend zillions of dollars(not really but it seems like it) on advertising their drugs to the public and the doctors.
     Patients see an ad, read the symptoms and think that the new drug will be the magic pill for them.  The TV announcer makes it sound like this drug will cure anything from acid indigestion to impotence. As the ad draws to a close, the announcer lists many of the important side effects such as: death, stroke, heart attack, upset stomach,  paralysis and an erection which lasts longer than four hours.. Of course the announcer says to speak with your doctor about the risks associated with this miracle drug.
     When all is said and done, a lot has happened medically since I was born.
     But it still is the Practice of Medicine which keeps us well.
     When do the doctors stop practicing on us and actually make us better?