Preach it!!

So today I get a call from my high school friend, Bill Flott.  He has been in the hospital fighting an infection that could have killed him.  He told me he couldn't think of anyone who could relate to what he was going through except me.  He knows I've been fighting like crazy for 5 1/2 years trying to beat this LMS cancer.  It doesn't matter what I do, it seems the cancer always pops back up.  I'm weary.  I'm fed up.  Why can't it just go away?

Our group has lost several in the past week.  Warriors that succumbed to this ugly beast.  The dragon they call it.  It makes you want to throw up your hands and scream, "WHY BOTHER?"

Then I'm walking blocks to get to the parking garage.  The good news is Mayo has constructed a subway level.  No, there are no trains to ride in, you have to walk but at least you get to walk in warmth in the winter or in air conditioning in the summer.  This gives me a lot of time to think.  There are so many people using walkers or wheelchairs.  This is the place people go to get fixed.  Sometimes it's a last ditch effort to save themselves.  Why?  Why do people wait until they can't walk or can't breathe before they do something?  It has always bugged me.

What I would like to do is this.  I'd like to make a smoker not be able to breathe for a day.  I'd like for them to walk up the stairs and gasp for breath.  I'd like the drug addict to have to sleep under a bridge for a week.  I'd like for them to know what it feels like to lose their job, their family, their friends.  I'd like for the person who is just getting a hint of dementia to have full blown Alzheimer's for a day.  I want people to realize that you cannot stick your head in the sand and pretend it's not going to happen to you.  How many more women who refuse to have a mammogram have to die before the denial will be stopped?  How many people have to lose all their teeth before the "it won't happen to me" syndrome will keep people from going to the dentist?

Rant over!