In the Midst of Health Care Debate

In the midst of the Health Care Reform debate we have been dealing with some health concerns of our own.  My husband was diagnosed with cancer.   Things started with a very tiny bump along the side of his nose, and his doctor believed this to be an infection.  After a couple of weeks of antibiotics, it was evident that the lump was growing.  When the doctor decided to aspirate the infection, he was shocked to discover that he was dealing with a tumor.  He sent us to a different doctor.  After three different biopsies, we had the verdict — cancer.  And it turns out that it is a very aggessive “wild” type of cancer.  It is rare and sometimes called “undifferentiated,” though they are now calling it squamous cell carcinoma because of where it originated. 

The original treatment plan failed to stop the growth, and his oncology team had to come up with a different treatment plan.  My husband is now on twice a day radiation schedule, and chemo therapy once a week.  After doing various scans of his whole body they discovered a small bit of cancer in his lung, too.   New decisions had to be made.  So, the plan is to deal with the very aggessive cancer on the face first, and then take a break in treatments.  After a short break, surgery will be used to deal with the cancer in the lung.  In any case we are looking at months of being caught in this thing called cancer.  I know I will have less time for blogging, but at least now, with a schedule more in place, I think I can get back to blogging at least sometimes. 

My first discovery in this new venture called dealing with cancer is how this thing takes over your life.  First, just getting to the diagnosis took so many tests and so much time, and was very frustrating as the cancer thing grew bigger day by day.  Next, trying the first treatment plan, doing evaluations, and changing to another plan took more time and energy.  Finally, living each day with the treatment schedule, and the increased weakness of my husband because of the chemo therapy, uses up a surprising amount of time.  Cancer does all it can to take over your life.

It is exactly in a situation like this one that having a faith community to turn to for prayers, and good friends to call on for support of all kinds, is shown to be essential in getting through this thing.  Both my husband and I are growing in our understanding of compassion as others extend that compassion to us.  You think you know the meaning of compassion, and then something like cancer unveils its true depths.   In this time of suffering we are learning where God is found in the mystery of suffering. 

When bad things happen it is the compassion of caring people that makes all the difference, and reveals the presence of God.  Not just people who feel sorry for you, but people who come forward to be with you, and support you in the midst of the bad things.  People who are there for you with real help, and not just kind words — that is compassion.  In the suffering of Christ, for example, it is not the women who weep along the via delarosa that show compassion; it is Veronica who steps forward to wipe the face of Christ. 

As I’ve written before, bad things — suffering — is something that can happen to anyone.  There is just something in the dynamic of Creation that allows for the mystery of suffering.  There are those who like to pretend that if you are a very good person, favored by God, do all the right things, then you will be protected from suffering, but this is not the way it works.  Suffering is part of living, and if you live long enough nearly all of us will experience it in some way.  What counts is our response to suffering — our own response, and that of others.   Sadly, the poor suffer more from bad things than do the rich, not because they are less loved by God, or because they are worse people, but because they are less able to pay for barriers that block some of the suffering, and less able to pay for the care they need to recover from bad things.  

All of our personal experience with health care has made both my husband and I more sensitive to the health care debate going on in our country.  The first thing you find yourself doing is pushing aside all considerations of cost.  You don’t dare think about that part of health care while in the midst of dealing with cancer.  Like Scarlet O’Hara — I’ll think about that tomorrow.  But the reality, of course, is that the fear of running up a debt we can’t pay is always in the back ground.  Nevertheless, worry over cost must be pushed aside until later.  There is not much choice. 

Those who are against health care reform seem very concerned about those who earn money from the health care insurance industry, more than they are concerned that all of us in the United States get good health care.  Their opposition to a public option is clearly stated as unfair to the insurance companies.  What????  Why is it more important that people continue to earn money and profits from selling insurance, than that people get good health care???  Why is corporate profits of such great concern??? 

For myself, I am disappointed that we are such a “for profit” style of country, that we cannot have a single payer system that would ensure that everyone had access to good health care, at very affordable costs.  However, I remember that there are those — mostly the rich – who believe that absolutely everything should be privatized for the sake of the profiteers — that everything should be turned over to those who want to make profits.  They would like to privatize schools, prisons, roads, the military, art, museums, parks, libraries, post offices, water, (air if they can find a way to measure it) … you name it — they want to find ways for rich people to get richer from selling what ought to be in The Commons of our country, and available to all. 

Greed — the constant pursuit of wealth — is still the root of evil.  The rich take from The Commons — that which belongs to all of us — and then sell it back to us at a higher price; and people let them get away with it.  Amazing!  All the profiteers have to say is… socialism, communism… and scare people, even though people really don’t know what it is they fear, except it sounds like losing something. 

For Christians, greed is not an option.  The constant pursuit of wealth is not a Christian value.  In God’s kingdom no one goes without, and no one has too much.  In God’s kingdom there is compassion for others, and we are all called to be like the “Good Samaritan”  risking time and wealth to care for the other.