Hacking the body

Six years ago arthritis locked up my right hip. At the age of 46, I was overweight, out of shape, my vitals were crazy, cholesterol etc. I spent 4 days in the hospital, I was in pain and I had to learn how to walk again. i got my life back afterwards.

A recent xray showed my left hip heading that way. My Orthopedic Surgeon and I talked about a pre-emptive strike. On Wednesday morning the hip was replaced. Wednesday at supper I was walking, Thursday morning,I was discharged from the hospital. I'm on Tylenol for pain meds and aspirin as a blood thinner. I'm not fast but I am walking.

We often look at medicine to repair things after our quality of life is stolen from us, why not before the degradation?

I can't wait for the next time I go through airport security, 2 titanium hips!

Dave

Titanium, a non-ferrous metal, won't trip the airport metal detectors but stainless steel screws will. I have a titanium neck that has never set off an alarm. For many I flew 4 trips a week. OTOH metal detectors are getting more sophisticated and sensitive. Perhaps the latest and greatest security devices will detect titanium. That said, the electronic strip searches done at airports today only detect things outside the body.

Fourdc,

This is very true and seen more often in Western Medicine as a whole. Other countries pay their doctors when they are healthy, not when they are sick.

It mainly has to do with the "I need it now" mentality of Americans, it has created a health care system that is more beneficial to it's investors, rather the community.

I take the "just in time" approach to medicine. Sure I get a class 1 physical twice a year even though it isn't required. After that I only have procedures done if they are absolutely necessary. I've been holding 2 joint replacements (shoulder and knee) in abeyance for 3 years because there is always the risk of adverse happenstance. I can put up with a lot of pain before taking that risk plus losing functional capabilities due to artificial joint limitations. I'll probably have an AC joint removed next year. They don't replace that joint, it is cut out leaving a gap in the shoulder structure. Unfortunately it will impose severe restrictions on arm functions above shoulder height.

fourdc - have you had a colonoscopy and or a PSA test done yet:confused: Those are a couple of tests to take at your age for some prevention....

The USA is a huge consumer of preventive medicine. We pay physicians and others who provide health related products and services when we are healthy and aim to stay that way. The cost of health care is NOT the amount paid for insurance, it is the amount that is actually spent on health care. That is contrary to what politicians and others with an axe to grind want us to believe. The same holds true with insurance being a requirement to access health care, but that's another political issue.

Compare mainly preventive dental health care in the US with that in the UK. I can get same or next day service as a new patient in the US while the new patient waiting time in the UK for an NHS dentist can be 5 years or more (according to a UK member on a sister forum). The care in the US is far superior.

Many countries have statistically better health care than the USA, but at a huge cost in quality of life. People in Canada wait months to see a specialist though the quality of care is good once received, but life on the wait list isn't. If they are called for an appointment (never at their choosing) and miss it (on vacation, etc.,) they go to the end of the wait list.

/rant

Steve,

My mom died from colon cancer and my Dad had prostrate cancer, removed. I'm a genetic mess for health problems. But I've been screened regularly, thanks for the suggestion.

Just in time medicine works for me.