There was some spirited discussion in a different thread on health related topics, and it got me thinking about just how amazing modern medicine has become, and that the people behind it, IMHO,  are real heroes. I know the kind of people that it takes to make real advancements in medicine - it takes incredible smarts, diligence, work and passion.

In my lifetime, I've seen many amazing treatments first hand - but one in particular stands out to me - drug therapy for Parkinson's disease.

When I was a kid I worked in a nursing home. In addition to the elderly, this facility cared for patients with Parkinson's disease. At the time (late seventies), many of these patients were men in their forties - they were wheelchair bound at best, and bedridden at worst. It was pretty sad.

Roll the clock forward 25 years, and my own father was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Pretty soon, the disease, without treatment, had him bedridden. However, with treatment, which was simply a pill, he could walk. To see someone bedridden like that, and then a month later have that person walk into your house to enjoy a family dinner was pretty awe inspiring.

It amazes me to this day and reminds me just how over the top smart these medical researcher scientists are.

It's unfortunate that the strongest disease in science is mankind. If one idea comes up, it may be shot down... So the scientists have to spend 3 times as long getting around the initial problem whilst keeping everyone happy. For instance, stem cells. People aren't happy, although they could lead to a wonder-cure for many problems. However, they're now working to create stem cells without destroying life. The hardest problem for them is overcoming the hurdles set by society, before even conquering the problem they set out to do in the first place.

It's like Isaac Newton. He was asked to solve a problem, so he invented calculus to help do it.


I'd love to have an island with no rules and a giant lab, and give the scientists 5 years and see what they create.

I go to a VERY good immunologist.  He's the head of the department at the closest medical school, head of immunology at the biggest hospital in the area, board certified in a half-dozen things, etc. etc. 

He always tells me how much we DON'T know.  That's his perspective.  He says half the stuff in a 1 year old textbook is obsolete.  He also says a lot of the treatments he is using now weren't imagined 4 or 5 years ago and what he is doing now will look primitive in another 5 years.

He diagnosed me off of blood tests that didn't exist 3 years ago.

Many of his answers to my questions are "I don't know".  Well, at least that's honest.

First, relative to Parkinson's - I just got back from doing the webcast of a conference where new medical treatments and PT regimes were presented.  I can't say enough positive things about the people working on that terrible affliction.  I think within 5 to 10 years we're going to see treatments that will be outright jaw-dropping in their effectiveness.  I hope so, anyway.

I also used to record a no-longer-extant conference with a very different focus where a presenter apologized for presenting out-of-date data - it was six weeks old.