While grappling with this "how do you know you are well" question, I thought back to my roots at Hewlett-Packard (I spent 25 years with them during the glory days). They were a measurement company before they were a computer company. One of the fundamental principles of measurement is that the act of measurement should not distort the measurement.
You can check something at three different times i.e.
1. After it happened. The post mortem is a great example. One can learn about why something happened but you cannot do anything to prevent it from happening. This , of course is very prevalent everywhere , especially in medicine.
2. While it is happening. There is a problem and you are trying to fix the problem. At this point in time you are scrambling to contain the damage and solve the problem. This is where most of medicine seems to be these days or what is commonly known as curative care.
3. BEFORE it happens. One takes steps to makes sure the problem doesn't occur. This is then a preventive solution. One can spend tons of money doing this. e.g. if you think your car is going to have a problem you could buy a new car which is an expensive solution. If you had an early warning system that your brakes were on their last legs , you could get the brakes fixed, which is infinitely cheaper than buying a new car. I think this is where people want health care to go in this country - be more preventive in nature.
Finally there is a positive and a negative way of looking at this. It is kind of taking the half -full vs. the half empty approach ---- how well am I versus what is the next thing that is going to go wrong with my body.......
In this blog I suggest we explore the positive side of how well am I doing --- both mentally and physically.....Again how do we know?
