Why the world is messed up Part 1

I love this country and only God knows why.

I walked into the pediatric oncology ward today and the first patient I met had a brain abscess of unknown pathogen origin but since she has cancer it could be a very, very bad bug. She was in a room with two other leukemia children one who was questionably neutropenic (no immune system). I was really, really upset. I get the whole limited resources concept. I get the whole this is not America concept but I can’t turn off the little doctor in my head that says this is a way to kill three children for the price of one. We painted their faces and make necklaces and bracelets and it was the only child life (hosp playroom) time these kids get. Their parents make their meals, give them all of their oral meds, wash them, clothe them and do all beside care that does not involve the IV pump. There are no portacaths so the kids get IVs perpetually. I was pretty saddened by the whole thing.

Especially in light of story number two. So ‘Mike’ is 16 and was my bosses’ first patient here back 1994. He has a stricture (a narrowing) of his esophagus. He needed surgery to fix it but he had to grow and there were no surgeons in Romania any way. Finally they found someone to do it after a more than a decade of suffering and being told that there was nothing to be done but wait for death, they found someone. Health care is supposed to be FREE for all children under the age of 18. And by FREE they mean that if you want your child to live the hospital alive after major surgery try a 3000 dollar bribe. That’s more than most families make here a year. And it needs to be in cash and by the way it’s all under the table so the doc will never pay taxes. The missionaries, the boy’s community and his parents have scrimped and saved and raised the funds. The boy survived the procedure and is in the ICU. The only words the surgeon told the mom was the esophagus was dilated before the stricture, we should have done this years ago. The mom has to pay a bribe every time she wants to see her son. 3000 under the table? And the mother can’t even be with her son???? 3000 untaxed dollars in a country where children with treatable cancer die because they can’t pay bribes for isolation rooms.

Don’t get me wrong I know America’s health care system is broken. But at least it is mostly honest. I mean insurance companies are evil but they are upfront about it. I would take truth even it means capitiolism runs health care over corruption running health care any day.

Also this http://www.wxii12.com/video/19854698/index.html watch it… and count the number of time they use the word inspiration or something similar. I know this girl, she is a friend of mine, and she is extremely kind and generous with herself. But I post this because it’s such a good example of America’s idea of disability. I can be a cursed beggar/prisoner of an institution or I can be a poster child for a Disney movie.

God Bless America……and Romania

Good grief. Dear God please tell me there is some happy medium in the world where gimpy people are not martyrs but rather teachers, parents, doctors, lawyers or whatever they want to be when they grow up. And no one finds it extraordinary that they managed but rather find it extraordinary that anyone would think otherwise.

….there are many kinds of freedom, and even more kinds of slavery.

End Rant.