'Abi Gezunt!'

(JNS) — When I was a kid, I remember always wondering why all the older people around us were forever using the Yiddish catchphrase Abi Gezunt—“as long as we have our health.” In my youth, I never understood why they kept saying that.

Why was gezunt (good health) such a problem for them? When youngsters, our biggest health issues were the occasional winter cold or a bruised knee on the baseball field. What were all these people going on about, I wondered.

Well, my friends, what should I tell you? All I can say is I wonder no more.

Becoming a mature adult means discovering things like blood pre...