Health and care and reform

I'm feeling pretty lousy today. I see by the Sunday paper that "Fungus" is really high here in the Dallas area. So, that must be what is causing my allergies to make me feel so bad. Darn fungus...

Isn't it amazing how we can take our health so for granted sometimes? I would dare say that a couple of days ago, I wasn't even thinking about my health - about how bad I felt; about whether I would be able to get some good sleep this afternoon/tonight or not; and/or about when I might start to feel "normal" again, etc. A couple of days ago my health wasn't even on my radar. But today, I am feeling totally out-of-whack and basically unable to concentrate on much of anything else.

I'm ashamed to admit that when I'm not feeling very good, everyone else is supposed to really care a lot about that (and me!). How dare they go about their lives being healthy and living normally when I feel so bad! Don't they realize how bad I feel? Hurrumph!

Too often when someone else's health has been bad, I'm afraid I haven't always been as compassionate or sympathetic as I should have been about that. When your own health is in pretty good shape, it is sometimes pretty hard for us to truly care about someone else's that isn't. Am I the only one out here who has this problem? Am I the only one that is this selfish?

This week my sister, Debb, goes in for brain surgery. She has a large Meningioma. This is a growth connected to her brain - not into her brain, just connected to it. She's known that she's had this benign tumor for several years. But, now it has grown so large that it is pushing out her skull and deforming it. Therefore, they are going to cut open the back of her skull, remove as much of the tumor as they can (hopefully all of it) and then try to put everything back together again (including a titanium plate to replace the part of her skull they cut out). It's a serious medical event and could potentially compromise her otherwise good health. This is something I really care about, and I will be praying in earnest that all the doctors/surgeons have exceptional skill during this surgery. I will also be praying that she is able to fully recover from this and be completely restored to good health once again.

With so much of the news these days filled with the topic of healthcare reform, I am wondering if the greatest reform needed might be in the hearts/minds of all of us towards one another. Maybe it isn't the government or the insurance companies that need to fix what ails us? Maybe it's that we need to start to care more about the health of those around us and reform our way of thinking about who's really responsible for standing by our loved ones and neighbors when they go through trials with their health? Maybe each of us needs to stop whining/fussing so much about our own health and recognize that everyone has times when they won't feel so good? Maybe we all need to figure out how we can care for others, instead of only selfishly focusing on how we feel ourselves?

One thing is for certain. Healthcare reform is needed. But, what the government is offering is not the answer we need. What the insurance companies are offering is not what we need. Each of us just needs to stop long enough to thank God for the good health we already have been blessed with , and then look around for who we can care for that is truly hurting.

Now that's the kind of health and care and reform that will really last in this country.