On one hand we feel lucky that she is getting such quality care that the cancer is being extracted before it has an opportunity to take a strong hold and take her life. I tell her that she’s lucky that she knows what’s going on in her body; most of us don’t. On the other hand we question how often and for how long can she endure major surgery and recovery.
I hear of people who say “stop with the treatment and let what is to happen to happen.” I can’t imagine they have much to live for making such a decision, but I’m not in their shoes. I ask myself, how much pain and suffering would I be willing to endure to keep living?
This ordeal has taught us a lot of lessons and opened our eyes to many inequities. The main lesson that we’ve learned over the past six years is to be proactive and to seek out and find the best of doctors and the best care. This doesn’t mean just going to any doctor, it means doing research and finding the best doctor available for the care that you or your family needs. With the internet this is a doable task. Neither best doctors nor best care would have been available if we had not had good health insurance. I read that 40% of Americans are without health insurance. I know in my heart if we had not had health insurance our daughter would be dead today, we wouldn’t know our grandson and we wouldn’t have had the past six years with them.
I don’t think that what my family has experienced is all that uncommon. The hospital is so crowded that our daughter will be spending the night in the ICU even though she is recovering well and should be moved onto the main floor, but there are no rooms available on the main floor. But only 60% of us have medical insurance, what are the other 40% doing or are they here at Crawford Long and not paying? Are they getting the preventive care that we are getting or are they merely fending off disasters?
Yet there are those among us that feel that to have a national insurance program would be wrong because it would result in a reduction in the quality of our medical care. Are we Ok with treating them for heart attaches, gun shoot wounds, and injuries; but not the progression of cancer or diabetes?
Is that to say that they are Ok with 40% of American families having to allow their daughters bodies be overrun with cancer? Can we be so selfish?
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