I was speaking with a cardiothoracic surgeon recently, and he brought up the topic of war. “It’s a terrible thing,” he said, “but it does wonders for advancing medicine.” It was a perspective that I hadn’t previously considered. Estimates suggest that greater than 90% survival rate for soldiers injured in recent combat. Compare that with…
Tag Archive: surgery
Trying to Find the Silver Lining
I’m having oral surgery tomorrow morning. The waiver makes the process seem so appealing — possible loss of feeling in the lower half of my face, possible fractured jaw, chance of nasty infection, possible permanent loss of taste, permanent uncontrollable drooling or maybe death from anesthesia. They’ve recommended that I don’t work for three days….