Thank God for modern medicine!

JoNightshade

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Have you ever had a life-saving medical procedure or drug? Something that has only come into existence in the past couple of decades or century? Something that, had you been living in an earlier time period, would have meant the end of your life?

I often think of this when I hear about people having certain surgeries or treatments. I'm thinking about it right now because my baby is currently quite happy in a "transverse lie" position - if he stays there, I'll be required to have a c-section. Before the c-section, this presentation inevitably resulted in the death of the baby and quite often of the mother as well.

So, share! What miracle of modern medicine allows you to continue living and breathing today?
 

sheadakota

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aww yes, my son was transverse as well, after 48 hours of labor a c-section saw him safely into this world- neither he or I would be here now if not for that.

Good luck Jo- wishing you all the best with the weeks ahead!
 

Judg

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Had a nasty miscarriage that required emergency surgery. Heck, if they'd sent me home instead of keeping me for observation before they were sure what was causing my abdominal pain, I probably wouldn't have survived.
 

Stew21

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My nephew had a condition that was life threatening before he was born. They did their best for him while he was still inside her (and also hoped to keep him in there as long as possible). The doctors performed some amazing miracles on that little boy for the first 3 months of his life (in and out of the womb).

He's 16 now. :)

My own son had RSV, pneumonia, and several other complications when he was 5 weeks old. That first day they saved his life in ER, and again, a week later with a complication that arose. PICU and the amazing doctors and nurses at St. Louis Children's Hospital are the reasons I have an awesome 4 (almost 5) year old now.
 

kayleamay

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My daughter spent 22 days on a ventilator this past May at Doernbecher (sp?) Children's Hospital. She went septic on day 2. It was not a pretty picture. Every complication that could have cropped up, did. A kid in her condition wouldn't have made it even 20 years ago, yet now she's home, she's well and you'd never know she'd been sick a day in her life. And to think, they did all that life saving with a psychotic mother standing in the room, staring at the monitors and questioning things every five minutes.


On a less personal note, I see things at work all the time that make me think, "Dang! We just bought that guy another 20 years!". I think that's the part of the job that keeps us coming back.
 

Xelebes

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If this was a little over a century ago, I would have had an exorcism or two to rectify my issue. That being Tourette's. Right now I take atypical anti-psychotics to deal with it.
 

cscarlet

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I have an severe form of a fairly common autoimmune disease, so I am only living the quality of life I have right now because of my meds.

Weekly, I give myself a shot. Monthly, I get an infusion, and on top of that I take a whole slew of pills (daily/weekly/monthly) to control my condition. All of them are meant to suppress my immune system so that said immune system does not attack my joints or internal organs.

With all of the above, I live a quite normal (and mostly pain-free) life! :)

Without these meds though, I would be a cripple. I would be deformed, unable to work, unable to raise a family, unable to get out of bed, and I would live every single day in excruciating pain. I would also have a much shorter lifespan, and I wouldn't have my mother right now (who is on permanent disability and deformed even with the medication because it had not advanced quite enough when she was first diagnosed).

I have a much better outlook than her... and I feel very lucky.

I heart modern medicine! :D
 

MelodyO

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I have rheumatoid arthritis, and although it doesn't strike you dead, the pain and disability can make life pretty unbearable. I was diagnosed early and given a little white pill that was originally for malaria. And...voila. As long as I take the pill, I'm symptom free or thisclose to it. If I'd been diagnosed twenty years earlier, I'd likely be in a wheelchair. So not just life-saving, but quality-of-life saving!

Also, I'm another one who would have died in childbirth if not for the miraculous C-section. Plus, my kid can kill Macbeth! Sweet. :D
 

kaitie

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I have a friend who's absolutely wonderful daughter was born weighing a pound and a half. Even twenty or thirty years ago she probably wouldn't have made it.

This isn't nearly as life threatening, but last Christmas I was home and ended up with a terrible case of bronchitis. Now, I've had pneumonia before (for like six weeks, it was awful), and so I know how miserable that is, and to be honest I suppose a hundred years ago I might not have had the antibiotics to get better then. But this time, when I went to the doctor, the first thing he did was give me a shot of antibiotics to keep the bronchitis from turning into pneumonia.

But think about that. Bronchitis is pretty common. I've had it a few times myself. Now we have the antibiotics to kill the bug, but what about two hundred years ago? How many people would have gotten something that today is a completely treatable illness that we never even really think twice about, and would have ended up seriously ill? That's really amazing when you think about it. We really are lucky to live in the time that we do.
 

NeuroFizz

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Nearly every medical advance has, at its roots, basic scientific research. For all of the bad press and distrust heaped on science and scientists these days, maybe a thread like this will cut them a little slack. In balance, the successes of science and medicine greatly outweigh the failures. So, hug a scientist today, and don't be insulted--it's probably just a belt mounted cellphone holster.
 

Rachel

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This isn't really my story as much as my mothers, though I still would have died if it hadn't been for modern medicine. My mother had a c-section for my older brother but when it came to me the doctors told her she could still give birth the old-fashioned way (this was at the time they thought that was possible). Well, they were wrong, her uterus ruptured, and we were saved by surgery.

(*does not remember any of this*)
 

kayleamay

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So, hug a scientist today, and don't be insulted--it's probably just a belt mounted cellphone holster.

Pfft. Typical. The scientists steal all the glory and leave the ones who get puked on and have to shove tubes into orifices out in the cold. :D


:tongue (and that IS NOT a cell phone)
 

Silent Rob

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What? I always keep a huge measuring cylinder down there.
 

regdog

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My niece, thanks to a c-section.

Another relative had been feeling blah for a long period of time. All the tests the doctors ran were negative. Until. An MRI of her head revealed a massive benign frontal lobe brain tumor. A brilliant neurosurgeon removed the tumor and she's fine today.

My relative had none of the usual brain tumor symptoms. No dizziness, nausea, headaches, loss of balance or weakness. This tumor is common is older woman. And many times shows no usual brain tumor symptoms. If you or anyone you know, has unrelated symptoms, lethargy, irritability unexplained aches and pain, that have been ruled out by other tests. A brain MRI might be in order.
 

JoNightshade

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But think about that. Bronchitis is pretty common. I've had it a few times myself. Now we have the antibiotics to kill the bug, but what about two hundred years ago? How many people would have gotten something that today is a completely treatable illness that we never even really think twice about, and would have ended up seriously ill? That's really amazing when you think about it. We really are lucky to live in the time that we do.

Yes, exactly. For some reason going through puberty resulted in quite a few urinary tract infections for me. They made me utterly miserable... for a day or two at a time - as long as it took for me to call a doctor and get antibiotics.

If those antibiotics didn't exist, not only would I have been climbing the walls, I probably would have ended up with severe kidney damage in the long run. I might have even died. Over a UTI. That just blows my mind.
 

Judg

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But think about that. Bronchitis is pretty common. I've had it a few times myself. Now we have the antibiotics to kill the bug, but what about two hundred years ago? How many people would have gotten something that today is a completely treatable illness that we never even really think twice about, and would have ended up seriously ill? That's really amazing when you think about it. We really are lucky to live in the time that we do.
You don't have to go anywhere near that far back. My mother was raised before antibiotics. One of her favourite threats was "Put your boots on or you'll die of pneumonia!" She had obviously had that one ringing in her ears all through childhood and continued with it out of sheer reflex, even if pneumonia was no longer a childhood killer in my generation.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Probably like twenty times--I was a c-section baby after my mother was in labor for 36 hours. Born with a blood infection and put on IV antibiotics shortly after birth. And then something like twenty bad ear infections from age 0 to age 16--more antibiotics, hooray!
 
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Not exactly life-threatening, but I suffer from migraines. They do severely affect my quality of life. Absolutely. I have symptoms similar to a stroke at times.

Which is why I'm grateful for drugs such as Imigran.

Also, I was a C-section birth. I have a bald patch on the back of my head where the scalpel cut my mother, then me. Apparently my head was too big. Can you believe that?
 

Shakesbear

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My mother was an only child, and I had always thought that meant my granny had only one pregnancy that went full term, others ending in miscarriages. It seems that many of grannys pregnancies went full term, but the babes only lived for a few days or weeks. They were all born at home and medical care was very expensive. I am grateful that maternity care in the UK was free when my mum had my brother and self. My brother was born with blue asphyxia and if he had been born at home and not in hospital he would have died.