I'm glad for science.

      You knew I was going to say that.  I was a physician for many years, and so I had a front-row seat as many discoveries were made and applied that relieved pain and suffering.  I also watched new information supplant ideas that had been firmly held for years (decades? centuries?)

     Medieval doctors believed that illnesses, including the Black Death, were caused by an imbalance in the four humours These were black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. A patient diagnosed with excess blood would undergo treatments such as bloodletting, which attempted to rebalance the humours by removing excess blood.

     I was bummed when I learned in medical school that I would not be privileged to wear the outfit above, but I swallowed my disappointment and rejoiced that so many things were being figured out.  Because of scientific advancements in the cause and treatment of health problems, I could offer patients so much more than my colleagues of even just a few decades earlier.

      So, we've got it all figured out and we're all going to live forever, right?  Not hardly; not even close.  As has been pointed out, no one gets out of here alive.  On the basis of my religious beliefs, I don't think that sticking around here forever, as enjoyable as it can be, is really the end game anyway.  That's a thought that we all understand in the abstract, but somehow, as the writer William Saroyan put it five days before his death, "Everybody has to die, but I always believed an exception would be made in my case.  Now what?"

     I've been blessed with generally good health and for the most part, the means to enjoy it, with only the occasional bump in the road.  I've been allowed to do some fun and cool stuff along the way.

     In keeping with that, everything was rolling along toward Old Guys' Kite Camp: Fall 2023 Edition this coming week.  It's a really nice semi-annual gathering of good friends and family at Cape Hatteras to enjoy kiteboarding and each other's company.  And of course buy new stuff (duh!).

     And so five days ago I was relieved when a COVID test done for my sore throat returned negative, followed about 24 hours later by a second negative, reassuring me that it was just a cold.  But things progressed, and the third test turned quickly positive.  

     My retirement life seems pretty free and open.  That misconception was corrected when I looked at what this diagnosis meant for the next while; Young Men Activity Night that evening was out, a proficiency flight with a flight instructor the next day was cancelled, helping a lady at church with her car the following day was a no-go, and our service at the Raleigh Temple on Saturday was not to be.  Church attendance today would be considered unpopular, and Hatteras this week doesn't look too probable. though I think I'm on the mend.  However...

     I mentioned that I'm glad for science.  Now a bit of history, if I may be forgiven.

     The first 'vaccine' was recognized in the 1700's through the serendipitous realization that milkmaids who had contracted 'cowpox,' a relatively benign disease, were subsequently immune to smallpox, a devastating illness that killed up to a third of its sufferers and significantly scarred many of its survivors. 

     Over the next two centuries, many of the infectious diseases that killed so many infants, children and adults in their prime were tamped down by the development of subsequent vaccines.

     The science that has allowed the near-miraculously swift development of anti-COVID vaccines has been brewing for at least the last twenty years; this was not something that someone thought of in 2020.  Their deployment has significantly reduced the likelihood of serious illness and death among those that have contracted this quite-contagious and dangerous virus.  

     So, while I'm bummed about the fun I've missed this week, and while I'm embarrassed about the assistance I wasn't able to offer, I'm very grateful that I've only suffered from what would have been considered a 'bad cold' if I hadn't taken that third test.  The hard-won conclusions of legitimate and exhaustive research make me believe that in all likelihood it has only been an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe thanks to good science and its rapid and tireless application.  

     I'm glad for science.  Yeah, just as in Saroyan's case, this life thing isn't going to last forever, but at least I may get to go to Hatteras this week and try to figure out how to use that cool Flysurfer 10-meter foil kite that I perhaps foolishly bought last year.  I'll let you know!

     Dave