As far as I know, I’d still be alive & healthy. Still have my tonsils, appendix and wisdom teeth, no kids, but the women in my family are all champion breeders with few if any issues. Of course, since I had all the vaccines kids got in the '60’s, it is anyone’s guess whether smallpox, polio or one of the other nasties might have jumped on me.
Still, all my grandparents came from large healthy families, most of whom lived to advanced ages so good genes and strong immune systems clearly play their part. I expect to live well into my 90’s with minimal health issues.
Appendix went pop a few years ago so I would have been in a lot of trouble. My wife & yougest son would both have died in childbirth (and if she hadn’t her appendix going bad a year after mine would probably have done the job).
I had appendicitis five years ago - what are the chances that would’ve killed me? Also a grapefruit-sized fibroid on my uterus last year (yum), which I’ve since had removed, but I could’ve gone on with that for quite awhile. But then, I did also have a colposcopy about 8 years ago to remove premalignant lesions from my uterus. I suppose that could’ve also done me in by now. Jinkies! I’m really a pretty healthy gal, but I could be either dead or very miserable if my sicheeayshun had been different.
My S.O. had leukemia at age 6. He could very likely have been a goner had it not been for chemo.
My twin brother damn near died after a jet-ski accident. He most certainly wouldn’t have made it without modern medical technology (but then again, there probably wouldn’t be jet skis either).
I’ve been very lucky health-wise. No major illnesses or injuries in 39 years. I’d probably be doing fine pre-modern medicine unless, as noted above I had caught some disease that modern medicine has vaccinated me against.
My now 16-month-old son, however, might not have made it without modern medicine. He had a “rough start”, as the pediatrician in the ICU liked to phrase it. He’s doing fine now.
I’ve been lucky so far. No potentially fatal illnesses or infections that I can think of, and in fact I might have been healthier in an earlier time period without so much processed food/junk food and more physical activity.
Maybe if I had not received modern vaccinations, I would have caught something infectious that would have turned out to be fatal, but that’s the only thing I can think of.
Yes, except again the possibility of diseases that have been eradicated/immunized against. Unless, as ZipperJJ mentioned, ear infections can easily become lethal (not only do I remember that pink medicine, I had ear tubes put in, although the latter may have caused several infections when water got inside my ear). Other than that, I haven’t had any serious health issues, nor have my parents up to now, so they would have lived too without modern medicine (after all, if your parents would have died before you were born, you wouldn’t have been born at all).
ETA - One could include tooth decay as well, which can lead to life-threatening infections if left untreated, but several hundred years ago they didn’t have sugary soda and other sugary foods (I drank several cans a day as a kid, with very few cavities since).
If my body took care of what vaccines and antibiotics have without the effort or suffering through infection, then the only other modern intervention I can think of is my glasses. Since myopia isn’t exactly fatal - I can see well enough not to fall off a bridge or something, then I guess I’d still be alive.
I had my tonsils out at age 10: the continuous infection would probably have managed to kill me, in an earlier age. OTOH, the first time I was real close to dying was pre-partum and caused by modern medicine (the doctor couldn’t count and doped us up to our gills to stop the contractions when they started), so while I appreciate the benefits I’m very wary of accepting any “advances” as such blindly.
Middlebro had pulmonia aged 3, same age as Mom had it, same age as Mom’s elder sister died from it. If Grandma hadn’t already lost a daughter to that “flu” and moved Heaven, Earth and three circles of Hell until she found a doctor willing to listen, I wouldn’t even have been made.
I have seen a doctor maybe twice in the last 15 years.
I may have been able to survive as a child without medical care but it would not have been good. I went to the hospital at least once a month, in springtime it would go up to twice. I remember seeing my heart beat through my shirt or even layers of shirts after they shot me full of Alupent, and would be up nearly all night watching it because that stuff got me as high as anything I did in my younger days.
Now for the stupid part. I went for asthma.
I started smoking at fourteen and still do.
I would probably be paraplegic if my shattered vertebra wasn’t repaired using a adamantium sheath.
OK, it was really titanium, but almost all of my friends have been bionically enhanced, so it sounds much cooler in conversation. Yeah, we are all a lot of fun to listen to when we talk about our surgeries. Old people. Heh.
Me, sure. A few of my little brothers, nuh-uh. Considering the myriad innovative and suprising ways they’ve attempted to kill themselves and each other during their lives, I’m surprised they’re still alive with modern medical technology. Without even going into things like childhood epilepsy or asthma or cleft lip and palate.
