@mikmik121 - Tumblr Blog

whenever I see archeological remains of a human who suffered from a terrible disease that couldn’t be treated in their lifetime but could be fixed now, this wave of sorrow and mourning washes over me. a woman in the 14th century who spent her 35 years of life bent at the waist because of congenital scoliosis. a man from the 18th century who died because of a non cancerous mass on his jaw that made eating progressively more difficult. remains of a woman from the Neolithic who died in childbirth having evidence of peri-mortem trepanation on her skull.

and yet she survived to 35. and yet the physicians in his time tried to strengthen his jaw. and yet someone 4,000 years ago tried to save someone they loved from dying of preeclampsia/increased cranial pressure. we tried. we tried and we tried and we tried. we failed and we learned but we tried. that’s what makes humans so beautiful.

lyricwritesprose

My mom sometimes talks about a child in her neighborhood who was born with hydrocephaly and died of it. His parents strove to keep him alive for years, but he ultimately passed after a long decline. No treatment available. No hope at all, and the parents knew it from his birth.

Several decades later my sister had an MRI, as a long shot, to try to figure out why she was sick and deteriorating with a number of symptoms that were close to being written off as anxiety. She was sent straight to the hospital for adult onset hydrocephaly. Two days later she had brain surgery to put a shunt down her neck into her stomach and drain the fluid out. (No, you cannot usually get brain surgery that fast. Yes, it was that urgent.) Recovery was long and squiggly but it happened.

I think of that boy every once in a while. The one who died. I have no doubt that treatments developed for people like him, and tested on people like him, saved my sister's life.

He never knew he made the world better. His condition was severe, he never knew much of anything, I don't think. I think if I ever track down a God or something like one, that'll be somewhere on my List of Wishes. To make sure people like him know that they helped.

mutedtempest

I think about this a lot.

I've been type 1 diabetic since I was about one and a half, and was incredibly sick. If my mother hadn't also been type 1 and recognized the signs I likely would have died.

I was born in 1982. Insulin was first given to a patient in 1922, and he survived. Before that, type 1 meant death, often very slow and agonizing. Before insulin, doctors advised a super strict "keto" diet to prolong life, and it could work for awhile - up to a year, I believe. But it was a miserable existence as the body was literally eating itself as the blood turned acidic until the patient eventually died.

60 years. Only 60 years before my birth did that procedure work for the first time. That's absolutely nothing given the span of human history and I think a lot about the people who died from it throughout time.

But yes, people tried. Healers and doctors of all sorts tried all manner of things to allow these (mostly!) kids to live. The fact that it was accomplished at all is nothing short of a miracle. The fact that I've been alive 42 years is fucking insane considering my body doesn't produce a hormone necessary for survival. If you think that doesn't blow me away on a regular basis you have another think coming. It's nothing short of a miracle.

Every medical advancement is. The amount of work that goes into it and the vast amount of luck necessary to get it right even when all the research and information is sound is just astonishing.

Thank you, humanity. Thank you ingenuity and determination to save lives and make them better. Thank you to every medical practitioner and medical researcher in existence now and through all of time. Thank you to all the people who died so I could live.

hyperactivehedgehog

Diabetes is one of these illnesses that really throws medical history into perspective. It's so common, everyone knows someone who has it, people live pretty normal lives with it. And yet, a hundred years ago, it was an instant death sentence. And then we were able to treat people with insulin and yet - it was extremely disabling. The insulin was extracted from animal pancreas had severe side effects, even with how similar the hormones are, there is always an averse reaction to proteins from foreign species, especially during long-term treatment. Injections had to be given every few hours, at-home-tests were only available from the 70s onwards. Insulin pumps entered the market in the 80s. Genetically produced insulin - humanized insulin - was first available in the US in 1982, in many countries only around the year 2000.

In 1930, having diabetes type I would basically mean being hospital bound, being woken every few hours for regular injections.

In 1965, you'd be able to live at home and get by with a very strict diet and a few timed injections. You'd struggle with chronical side effects. Having children wasn't done - passing on your genes would be immoral, and it might not even be legal for you to marry.

In the year 2000, you'd have a device clipped to your belt that would measure your blood sugar and distribute insulin, you only need to change the needle a few times a day. You might even be allowed to join in P.E. class

In 2025, you stick on two patches that do the same thing. They're synchronized through your phone.

That wasn't fate. It's not natural development that made diabetes a common chronic illness. It was hundreds of people who cared. It was the people who created the keto diet. It was the people who came up with tests. The ones who went through different species, trying to figure out the closest analogon to human insulin. It was the people who fought in court to get genetically produced insulin approved for medical use. It was people who looked at a rare, incurable disease and said "but what if it wasn't?"

prismatic-bell

Back in the 1960s, my dad was one of the first 100 successful open-heart surgeries in the world. He needed it to fix a hole in his heart, a condition that up until then was basically "take him home and make him comfortable."

He's lived long enough that three of his grandkids have been born with the same condition, and he's been there to assist with the recovery after the laparoscopic version of the same surgery he had.

He has a scar from collarbone to waist that's as thick as my finger--thicker, in some places. My nieces and nephews have scars so tiny you could mistake them for being from a particularly bad cat scratch. And their recovery was measured in weeks, instead of months.

Medicine has improved so much, so fast, that he's lived to see the research done on him save his grandchildren.

vaspider

Every time I inject my insulin, I think about the doctors that developed it, and every dog that died in that process.

There were a lot of them. Yes, it gets to me every time. I don't die in agony because of determined scientists and some unspeakably good dogs.

cassolotl

A poll for Firefox users

I use up-to-date Firefox and I have used the AI kill switch

I use up-to-date Firefox and I have turned off some AI features but not all

I use up-to-date Firefox and I have not turned off any AI features

I use up-to-date Firefox and didn't know you could turn off AI features

I use an older version of Firefox with no AI features

I don't use Firefox

Remaining time: 4 days 17 hours

cassolotl

For Firefox users who weren't aware of the AI kill switch, type about:preferences#ai into the address bar, and you should see this:

everybidenjusthavegoodtime

give a man a guitar and he’ll play for a day, teach a man guitar and today is gonna be the day that they’re gonna throw it back to you

I swear to God I am so tired of this meme. You guys need to leave Wonderwall alone, seriously by now you should’ve somehow realized what you gotta do

hannah-the-lion-deactivated2023

my friend asked if i was gonna stop laughing at wonderwall jokes.

i said maybe

microposting

people went to war over this show

sanrio-stud

who suffered more?

Pearl

jesus christ

Voting ended onApr 10

fluff-e-boy

Love and support trans women forever and ever and ever and ever

So if Glam visits Angel Island, has he ever seen the master emerald in person? Or does Knuckles not trust him around it? (Or perhaps shadow doesn’t either lol)

I'll, uh, get this one. It's a bit of a sore subject, those two-

Dude, Shadow hates Glam.

Manny-!

What? I'm not lyin' or nothin'. You remember that phone call after we pierced Crimson's ears?

You mean after I told you to stay out it? He was pissed at you.

That doesn't mean he likes out kid-

(Manic is muffled as a hand is decisively slapped on his mouth.)

Knuckles is a good friend of mine, and I can tell he cares a lot about all of our kids, Espio and Silver's included.

He's never left Glam alone with the Master Emerald, but he's helped guard it once or twice with their kids. I think he likes that more than just his own kids are interested in his heritage.

Shadow...doesn't trust Glam much, which is why we're handling this question. It's a...pretty touchy subject, considering how close he is to the twins, especially Crimson.

There's been more than one occasion where Knux and I have had to step between them, almost always to stop Shadow.

The guy loves his kids, I'll give him that. But I guess his opinions on Glam are pretty bad. Even when he's trying to help, Shadow finds a way to blame him for things going wrong. I know Knux is trying to get him on Glam's side a bit more but...I dunno.

- Mighty and Manic

#Sonic #sfs 4 #sfs propaganda #not adding the extra context of Shadow comparing Glam's attitude to Sonic's #or the fact that Shadow has punched him no less than 5 times

noahwyles

i, a rock collector, had to go to the ER yesterday because of a gallstone attack, here is how my father messaged me

thanks dad

anremithrl

That was the correct thing to say.

So, Glam. Do you prefer pancakes, waffles, or French toast for breakfast. Also do you have it with coffe hot, cocoa or tea?

(Is hot cocoa a breakfast drink? Anything can be a breakfast drink if you put your mind to it)

I guess if I had to choose, French toast and tea? I usually have like, fruit yogurt or a smoothie for breakfast though. And if I'm visiting Angel Island, we'll just pick fruit right off the trees.

- Glam

#sonic #sfs propaganda #sfs 4 #sorry this is such a boring answer 😭#he likes sweet fruits and savory veggies

radicalcircuit

Espio preparing Charmy for his first concert.

#Sonic

supd00dle

#sonic #sorry I laughed really hard at Charlie and Pim

chaoslose

Who I am

gizmo9133

seeing this with that text instantly reminded me of the unused magna-fi song from shadow ‘05

#Sonic

allcatsarebabies

buster the feminist

internetdruid

🐦‍⬛

crested satinbird (Cnemophilus macgregorii)

#reject humanity #become bird

thesoundofspeed

VOTE FOR GLAM

GUYYYYYSSSSSSS VOTE FOR GLAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMM

Look Hes making dumplings with his dad, or bao…. They’re kinda huge for dumplings but the dough is too thin to be bao and they are closing them like potstickers

Idk they’re making food and I love them

#Sonic

sonic-fankid-showdown

SFS 4: Round 2 Poll 8

Starlight Nova vs Glam the Armadillo

Starlight Nova

Glam the Armadillo

Remaining time: 5 days 20 hours

Starlight by @tissuesforissues

Glam by @mikmik121

More info under the cut

mikmik121

Don't forget to vote for round 2! 🫡

#sfs 4 #save him

that-cluster-b-bitch

actually there's nothing wrong with being mentally ill. you can be narcissistic, you can be psychopathic, you can be delusional, you can be insane, you can be bipolar, you can be whatever the hell it is you are. you don't need to make your mental illness pretty to be worth being here. the fact that you've made it this far is amazing and you deserve happiness and I'm sorry that the world we're in is too ableist to recognize that.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs