congestive heart failure, for example. Instead of just
delaying the moment of the downward drop, our
treatments canstretch thedescent out until itends up
lookinglesslikeacliffandmorelikeahillyroaddown
the mountain:
Theroadcanhavevertiginousdropsbutalsolongpatches
ofrecoveredground:wemaynotbeabletostaveoffthe
damage,butwecanstaveoffthedeath.Wehavedrugs,
fluids,surgery,intensivecareunitstogetpeoplethrough.
Theyenterthehospitallookingterrible,andsomeofwhat
wedocanmakethemlookworse.Butjustwhenitlooks
likethey’vebreathed theirlast,theyrally.Wemakeit
possible forthem to makeit home—weaker andmore
impaired, though. They never return to their previous
baseline. As illness progresses and organ damage
worsens,a personbecomeslessableto withstandeven
minorproblems.Asimplecoldcanbefatal.Theultimate
courseisstilldownwarduntiltherefinallycomesatime
when there is no recovery at all.