Thursday, January 19, 2006

Coronary catheterization

I have never been very good at suffering uncertainty and fear. In fact, you might say that a major motivation in my early years to learn so much was to try to reduce the size of the mysteries and shadows that I felt confronted with.

Having precise names for things, facts about them, understanding what gives rise to their existence, it makes me feel better. Quite aside from the options and real control it does give you, it makes me feel better almost immediately, in proportion to how well I think I understand.

So tonight I google and read studies and think about what my father (David Corwin) will be doing tomorrow morning in Utah.

Almost ten years ago I realized that my father was the highest risk person in my immediate family, in terms of medical emergencies. His father died of heart disease.

It's things like this that make you appreciate the rate of medical progress. Both the positive and the negative. A few things have changed very rapidly in coronary medicine, others are virtually unchanged from the sixties.

A few more years may bring great medical progress, or it may bring hardly nothing. Or it may be irrelevant and too late.

For now, he's going to learn more tomorrow. And so will I. Which I approve of, less mysteries. And then we'll see what applies.

No comments: