It is said that in the not-so-distant past, when a Navy ship was to be at sea for months, ALL the sailors who'd never done so had to undergo appendectomies before leaving port, in case ...

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), February 17, 1999

Answers

I don't know about other navies, but that *certainly* wasn't the case in the US Navy. I was in Navy, and whole family has been in Navy continuously since 1905. None has had appendectomies.

Jolly

-- Jollyprez (Jolly@prez.com), February 17, 1999.

If you need minor or major surgery, get it done soon. Major surgery is the bigger concern due to extensive recovery and rehabilitation periods. You want all of the hospital's complex electrical machines to be functioning correctly, don't you?

I don't plan to be in a hospital nor leaving port during Y2K.

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), February 17, 1999.

Yep. Precisely why my eyes are going to be lasered in a couple weeks.

CR

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 18, 1999.

When I was in Navy (Late 1950s -- no such requirement. Big ships (cruisers, aircraft carriers) had medics (could probably do appendectomies).

If problems on small ships, ferried people from one to another by two ships keeping station alongside each other, and transferring by cable from one to another.

I don't remember about use of choppers on ships, then. Nowadays, cruisers, have, I think, small helipads.

But -- applicability to this forum. I recently got all my decrepit old teeth fillings replaced. Went to skin doctor, had the main bumps and lumps zapped off, even though not malignant. Going back for little ones soon.

Get those teeth fixed, now -- otherwise you may have to have them pulled in a couple of years by your neighbor with a pair of pliers. Also stuff like hernias and other elective surgery should be done now.

I also considered laser (LASIK) surgery for eyes, instead of relying on glasses. While I have heard a lot of good, also some bad. So, I passed on that one; I'm just going to get extra glasses for now.

-- A (A@AisA.com), February 18, 1999.

bold off.

-- a (A@AisA.com), February 18, 1999.

One of the first things my GI sister said to me when my daughter had her appy last fall was "Better now than in 15 months!" I thank God daily for the timing.

I, too, am having several moles off - my doctor's been saying for a while that while they don't look dangerous, the older they get, the more likely they are to be a problem.

Get any 'minor' medical problems dealt with now, and pray that any major ones hit sooner rather than later; that's good advice even if all we have is recession, IMnotsoHO.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), February 18, 1999.