Musings on the evolution of illness and disease

Illness and disease have taken up evolving forms and feelings down through the years as personally observed by this blogger. As a pre-school lad, a vision of different colors floating through a wide bottomless abyss was an indication that he was at the brink of a fever-induced delirium and in the background he could hear his mom mutter… “it’s 40 degrees celsius. Get some ice, quick!” Other than that, disease to him was something that deserved nary a thought nor emotion.

College and Medical School was a period where illness was something that was limited to the books, while life flew by fast without nothing serious enough to warrant a doctor’s attention or some confinement in the hospital. The last part of the medical school era was an introduction and the start of the immersion in the realm of disease and illness, but this was done from the third-person point of view. The emotions were mostly confined to the fear of making a mistake that would result in academic failure.

After medical school, with the initials "M.D." now attached to his name, disease and illness became something that had to be handled with utmost care, urgency and professionalism. It was also the means by which he made a living and how he was defined in the community. Emotions played around the concerns over a patient not getting well fast enough, the prevention of the spread of the disease and why was it taking Medicare so long to send the cheques over. Actual participation in the disease process was starting to manifest in the form of elevated serum uric acid, the deposition of the same in the joint spaces and the erosion of the gastric mucosa, which was a direct effect of the pain-killers that were used to alleviate the pain in the joints. Later, hypertension would insidiously enter into the picture - an unavoidable hereditary trait.

Retirement. This was a point in life that was expected and yet came unexpectedly. Disease concerns now was something that came as a private message or a call over the phone. It was about so-and-so who was just diagnosed for such, and so-and-so who just succumbed to such. The focus on kin and dear friends suddenly takes center stage and the emotions ranged from fear to shock to sadness and to bereavement. It was like disease was on the rampage and was sparing no one, and there was practically nothing that could be done to stem its attack and prevent its after-effects. Disease was hitting nearer and nearer home and this blogger knew that it is just a matter of time before debilitating disease would come knocking at his door to announce its grim presence.

To this blogger's kin and friends who by chance have reached this point in his observation of the evolution of illness and disease, he would like to offer a prayer for their happiness in spite of the pain, for recovery by medical and divine intervention and for continued faith and trust in their own selves, in family and above all in God's salvation.