Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Miracle of Modern Medicine

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         These past few years, there have been a lot of medical emergencies and surgical interventions in my family. I was hit by a car. My husband had sinus surgery and tore a tendon in his hand. I had LASIK done. My husband tore his ACL and had an ear surgery that restored his hearing in his right ear.
        Four years ago, I had surgery that stitched up a laceration that had peeled my skin down to the bone and exposed my right eye. I later had surgery that tightened up a drooping muscle in my right eye. Now the scar is almost invisible, just a little line that stretches across my forehead. Three months ago, I had an all-laser surgery that shaved nanometers off my cornea, forever changing my vision from 20/2700 to a perfect 20/20. Every morning, when I wake up and reflexively search for my glasses only to realize I don’t need them anymore, I am astonished at the miracle of perfect vision, all thanks to a surgeon and a highly-advanced piece of machinery.
        My husband had surgery that removed a cyst in his sinuses and fixed a deviated septum. With the cyst removed, the allergies that had plagued him are almost disappeared. Then, a year later, the same surgeon went in and separated the bones of his middle ear, fixing a congenital issue that had been steadily causing progressive hearing loss. Had the surgeon not corrected the issue, he would have gone deaf. Now his hearing is restored. In another month, another surgeon will go in and reconstruct my husband’s ACL, performing a surgery to fix an injury that could have crippled him but won’t, thanks to the many medical professionals who spent years perfecting this particular surgery.

         I am constantly amazed at how much humans are capable of, how as human beings we can come up with so many creative solutions to so many problems.