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marycatelliA sobering reflection for a birthday -- at 44, I am as old as my maternal grandfather ever got.
To be sure, he had rheumatic fever as a child, and it was the complications that eventually got him. So -- forging onward.
To be sure, he had rheumatic fever as a child, and it was the complications that eventually got him. So -- forging onward.
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Date: 2012-12-20 04:21 am (UTC)It's funny you should post about (not) having rheumatic fever as a child. I just read an article about a woman from East Timor who had heart valve surgery in Australia--without it, she would probably soon have died from heart failure, but as it is, she'll go on to have a healthy life. She had rheumatic fever as a child. (Article here)
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Date: 2012-12-20 04:31 am (UTC)Oh, yes, nowadays he probably could have been saved by an operation, but at the time of his death -- well, they might have performed such operations, once or twice, but no more, even if they had.
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Date: 2012-12-22 12:37 am (UTC)In terms of medical arts, we are so fortunate to live now in a very different world.
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Date: 2012-12-22 03:15 am (UTC)Let's hear it for modern medicine!