Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Sugar Plumbs, and Old Prunes, and Automation, and Artificial Backs

    Darance Thomdancer slid his car into a narrow parking spot, exited the vehicle, and gazed at the sign. "Surrerio Senior Living," it said, and he imagined there must be 200 people there he could help.
   He hit every room in the place that day, telling each resident he wanted to move as many of them as possible over to a hospital he had contracted with. "It's the old Brickhaven Medical Center," he said. "I've arranged for as many beds as we will need. You will all have your backs replaced -- well, as many of you as need your backs replaced will have them replaced."
   Modern medicine had never seen anything like this before. Knee replacements and heart transplants? Ah, yes, we know about them. But, spine replacements? Such an idea. Oh, perhaps no one dared try them before, what with nerves being such a tender thing. I mean, how to you separate the nerves from the spine during the operation? How do you delicately remove the bad parts of the spine -- the crushed discs and all -- without disturbing the nerves?
   Back in the 20th Century, this might have been impossible. But, enter the age of automation. These days, more and more things are computerized. Actually, a hospital to the south had already started offering automated back surgeries, although they didn't offer anything nearly so radical as this.
   Spine replacements? No way! Or, so they said.
   The robotic surgeons could sense what parts would need to be replaced, what parts better go untouched, and where to sever the tissue and bones -- with micro meter precision. The hands of a human surgeon would never be equal to this surgery, but the bionic fingers of a robot would not fail.
   Some of the patients from Surrerio Senior Living never went back. After their surgeries, they were able to walk, many for the first time in years. And, I'm not talking just walking, I'm telling you they had all the spring in their steps that a 15-year old would have.
   There have been a lot of advancements in medicine in our life times, but I'm not sure anything was more dramatic than the miracles achieved by Darance Thomdancer and his medical wonder workers at Brickhaven Medical Center that Christmas season in 2017. If sugar plumbs could dance, they would, and so did a lot of old prunes.

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