1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
Death comes at two speeds, fast and slow, Peter Attia writes in his book Outlive.
Peter chose Johns Hopkins for his medical residency because of its top-notch reputation for excellence in liver and pancreatic cancer surgery.
But the fact it was located in downtown Baltimore also meant he and his fellow residents were likely to see ten or more trauma cases every day, mostly gunshot or stabbing wounds.
Meaning they would have abundant opportunities to develop their surgical skills.
He writes: “In inner-city Baltimore, fast death ruled the streets, meted out by guns, knives, and speeding automobiles.”
Yet, while trauma and fast death ruled the nights, a different type of death dominated the daylight hours.
“Our days belonged to patients with vascular disease, GI disease, and especially cancer,” he writes. “The difference was that these patients’ ‘wounds’ were caused by slow-growing, long-undetected tumors, and not all of them survived either—not even the wealthy ones, the ones who were on top of the world.”
Peter’s insight?
“Cancer doesn’t care how rich you are. Or who your surgeon is, really,” he observes.
“If it wants to find a way to kill you, it will.”
2: His big insight is that fighting fast death is very different from fighting slow death.
The bad news?
“Modern medicine does not really have a handle on when and how to treat the chronic diseases of aging that will likely kill most of us,” Peter writes.
The answer is to start much, much earlier.
“Medicine’s biggest failing is in attempting to treat all these conditions at the wrong end of the timescale—after they are entrenched—rather than before they take root.
“As a result, we ignore important warning signs and miss opportunities to intervene at a point where we still have a chance to beat back these diseases, improve health, and potentially extend lifespan.”
3: The good news?
“Many of these same individual risk factors, it turns out,” Peter notes, “are relatively easy to reduce or even eliminate.”
I’m getting ready to participate in an online program Peter is offering. I look forward to sharing some of the learnings in future RiseWithDrew posts.
More next week!
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Reflection: Take a moment to be grateful for modern medicine!
Action: Share the good news about Medicine 3.0 with a friend, colleague, or family member.
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