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When I was in my 30s and had two small children, my appendix burst. It turned into a fairly routine procedure to remove it and get me back on my feet; but I realized that if I had lived even 100 years ago it probably would have been fatal.

Near death experiences can change your whole perspective. When I was young and single, I did all kinds of crazy things that could easily have ended me. Once I got married and had children, I definitely became much more conservative in the personal risks I was willing to take because it wasn't just about me anymore.

Tomorrow is promised to no one, but each of us can do things to minimize risk.



Most people older than 40 are living on borrowed time given the medical progress of the last 100 years. I would have been dead twice without now.


>When I was in my 30s and had two small children, my appendix burst. It turned into a fairly routine procedure to remove it and get me back on my feet; but I realized that if I had lived even 100 years ago it probably would have been fatal.*

I've lost count of how many "ordinary" infections I've lived through thanks to antibiotics. One would have for sure killed me. A puncture wound on the bottom of my foot in a dirty river in the south.

We're not even 100 years into having antibiotics. A species just getting started tbh. I wonder what will come next that is similarly "magical" to antibiotics.




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