The other day I was reading a news story
Apr. 29th, 2018 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulySome kid had a weird illness but LUCKILY! some other kid had died of the same strange symptoms last year and the mom had read an article on the subject and so her kid survived. Happy ending all around, except for the dead kid.
Man, I cannot get enough of these stories. Girls who get into car accidents and this is how they find out about the brain tumor that would've killed them, happy grandmas who show a picture of their kids to the receptionist at the dentist's office and find out that some odd feature of the eyes indicates a serious, yet treatable medical condition, people who happen to mention an odd detail of their lives in passing to strangers in the park who turn out to be doctors who are experts in the one disease that strange detail reveals - I love them. I don't even care if they're true. (Well, I care a little.)
There's something about the coincidences. People love those. Some people love them so much they chalk this up to divine providence, but that's ridiculous, and not just because I don't believe in god(s) or, indeed, any other supernatural entities (though I do like to pretend that I believe in ghosts now and again). Obviously a second's thought will tell you that for every "truth is stranger than fiction!" story we hear, there must be tons more that we don't hear because there are no weird coincidences in those stories at all. People find out about their illnesses in the usual way, or they don't.
Funnily enough, though, stories about where freakishly weird chains of events conspire to cause people to miss their doomed flight or reunite with their lost love do nothing for me. It's gotta be medical miracles.
******************
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Man, I cannot get enough of these stories. Girls who get into car accidents and this is how they find out about the brain tumor that would've killed them, happy grandmas who show a picture of their kids to the receptionist at the dentist's office and find out that some odd feature of the eyes indicates a serious, yet treatable medical condition, people who happen to mention an odd detail of their lives in passing to strangers in the park who turn out to be doctors who are experts in the one disease that strange detail reveals - I love them. I don't even care if they're true. (Well, I care a little.)
There's something about the coincidences. People love those. Some people love them so much they chalk this up to divine providence, but that's ridiculous, and not just because I don't believe in god(s) or, indeed, any other supernatural entities (though I do like to pretend that I believe in ghosts now and again). Obviously a second's thought will tell you that for every "truth is stranger than fiction!" story we hear, there must be tons more that we don't hear because there are no weird coincidences in those stories at all. People find out about their illnesses in the usual way, or they don't.
Funnily enough, though, stories about where freakishly weird chains of events conspire to cause people to miss their doomed flight or reunite with their lost love do nothing for me. It's gotta be medical miracles.
Meet the ex-miners who are now walking on water
What Made Oscar Tschirky the King of Gilded Age New York
Bolivia’s Quest to Spread the Gospel of Coca
Scenes Unseen: The Summer of ’78
In Seattle’s red-hot housing market, a group of millennial techies is using data skills to alter the look, and affordability, of their adopted city.
Making cities cooler is a no brainer – so why are we doing so little about it?
AZ's only black legislators were reprimanded for calling out a colleague's use of the n-word
Cosby verdict met with conflicting emotions by some blacks
These Women Say the New York City Police Department Is Failing Rape Victims
The internet is enabling a community of men who want to kill women. They need to be stopped
no subject
Date: 2018-04-29 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-29 03:41 pm (UTC)For most people with my condition it can take six YEARS to get a correct diagnosis, we were fortunate that my wife is a tiger when it comes to my health. I suffered no permanent scarring in my lungs, though my lung function is that of an 80 y/o. Part of the problem is that doctors are trained to watch for immunological symptoms more if they're pediatricians, not doctors for adults, as that's when it's more likely to emerge. But 10% of newly diagnosed cases are people in their 40s, that's not exactly chump change.