Dear Dad 6.21.21 Health
Sometimes when I meet people, I will have occasion to mention my dad is almost 95 and my mom lived into her 90s. I used to describe you as aging energizer bunnies like in the Energizer Battery commercial. The response is almost universally, “you have really good genes”. This seems mostly true for the McIntire side. For mom’s side while genetics were important, medical advances and treatment were significant factors. Mom survived heart surgery, joint replacements, multiple fractures, cancer, and a stroke. Noticeably big factors are neither of you smoked, compared with others your age you were quite active, and you spent a lot of time outdoors.
I suspect there is something about cholesterol metabolism from the McIntire’s. While my cholesterol is a bit high, the level of my “good” HDL cholesterol is quite high compared to my “bad” HDL cholesterol. I remember seeing a study somewhere that many of the people who lived to be 100 or more, the ratio of bad to good was roughly one to one as is mine and most likely yours as well.
The healthcare innovations in our lifetimes have been great. As a child and teenager, I remember all the blind old women with diabetes and the old men with paralyzed arms or faces because of strokes. It has become increasingly rare to see either of these conditions in the past 30 or so years. Nancy, Lauren, and I all have had health issues that were life threatening only a 2–3 decades ago. We are all now fine with no lingering ill effects.
I remember as a preteen and teen hearing older men and women (mostly men) object to medical practices that are now common and widely accepted. They thought man was playing God by transplanting hearts or fertilizing human eggs outside of a woman’s body, to name only a couple. These were the same folks who obsessed about the length of boy’s hair, interracial relationships, women with any kind of leadership role, etc. Many were also opposed to space travel (this included an elementary school teacher), but that is a whole other story. The old men sitting in the cafes today drinking their morning coffee have probably moved on to objecting to stem cell research, gene manipulation, while they probably do not blink an eye at heart transplants or in-vitro fertilization. I am sure they also have strong opinions about gay rights, voting laws, immigration, and the list goes on and on.
Side note regarding heart transplants — Dr. Christian Barnard who transplanted the first human heart accepted a position at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City for a couple of years in the 1980s. By this time, he had stopped performing surgery due to arthritis in his hands. In the 90s this hospital was one of my clients. The pathology director at Baptist and I had a very friendly relationship and would sometimes just sit and talk. The pathologist had once specialized in rheumatology. Dr. Barnard upon discovering this; would frequently stop by his office for opinions about his own arthritic hands. The pathologist was terribly busy on one of these occasions and slightly annoyed when Dr. Barnard dropped in with his arthritis concern. The pathologist turned to Dr. Barnard and said “Chris, I am a pathologist; the only observations I can really do will be when I do your autopsy. I will give the results of my findings to your family.”
As I read articles about the future of healthcare, I wonder about the changes my children and grandchildren will see. There are some remarkable predictions. It will certainly be interesting to watch the part of it we get to see.
See you soon. There is a rather good chance I will be a granddad and you will be a great-granddad again by the time you read this.
