American Views Abroad

 
Today is an unusually warm November day with stunning blue sky, deep orange leaves and no hint of winter yet. One could say it's a rather lovely birthday gift having such gorgeous weather in the middle of November were it not for global warming. Once upon a time November was mostly dreary, certainly grey but now, suddenly, you can almost walk outside without a winter coat.

It has been a weird, difficult year. Nothing like serious illness in the family and confrontations with medical progress makes you so aware of how much we don't know. For example, very kind and concerned doctors could not provide any explanation of why a 60 year old man who watched his weight, played regular tennis, followed all those dietary laws handed down by statistics could get so ill. First it was Parkinsons three years ago, albeit an 'easy to handle form' according to the specialists. However, the tests showed that he once suffered a silent stroke. Full cardiac exams were done to make sure it never happens again. The second stroke came exactly a year ago. Again, they could find no explanation. Immediate medical care saw him back up on his feet and continuing on as if nothing happened. Middle of July he showed signs of a not- to- be- shaken- off fatigue which got worse and led to pneumonia. Only then did they see that his heart wasn't functioning very well but it took till middle of October before the end diagnose was found. A heart attack which claimed 50% of his muscle had hit him sometime in summer.

How much do we know about what makes people so sick? Is there a connection between glaciers shrinking and human illness? I have no idea. Can, for example, war even when it ended over 60 years ago make someone ill today? There have been some rather interesting reports in the media hinting at how the lack of adequate nutrition and tremendous stress during pregnancy plays an important role in how that child ages. Just this week the New York Times had an article about how ill men can get, how they die much earlier than women and it posed the question if there shouldn't be more research into men's health. It claimed men are reluctant to go to doctors, but in our case, he constantly went to the doctors and followed their advice. Can stress alone make someone very ill or is it more as one doctor put it 'not verbalizing his stress'?

Lots of questions, hardly any answers. Just the things you think about when turning 60.
- posted by Gloria @ 4:21 PM