Healthcare and Flies

Have you noticed?  People are dropping like flies.  Young people - you know - people  my age are contracting infirmities I'd not even heard of when I attended Sister Mary Imabitch's Institution for Wayward Nurse Wannabes.  Many are falling to are that old devastating chestnut, cancer, or being killed by the treatment of it.  Others are fading into the slow lane exits.  And everyone is losing people from their lives on a regular basis.

Even I, someone I've always assumed to be beyond all that nonsense, have collected more diagnoses than can fit on a hospital's form.  On the line that asks if I've had any surgeries, I just write "How much paper do you have?"  Same for medications.

I find it helpful to remember a few key points when it comes to this thing called healthcare.

1.  If you are considering a career, get into healthcare in America, because evidently most Americans will do anything, pay anything, believe anything, endure anything that a healthcare provider tells them.
2.  Don't be one of those "most Americans."  I find it best to do some research and make my own decisions.  Doctors have protocols to follow.  Have this test every 1.7 years, have that test all the time, take these vaccines, step outside the theatre and turn in a counterclockwise circle three times, blah, blah, blah.  Some of those suggestions may make sense for you, some may not.  Common sense, something not all that common, can go a long way.  You will be the first one to know if you don't feel well. 
3. Decide what your life goal is.  In this case I mean, do you want to live as many years as possible or do you want to enjoy life as much as possible?  I agree that to a great extent, enjoyment is a state of mind that one can determine to have - that is as long as the temple that is ones body is capable of determination.  Another way to think about that is to ask yourself what's the worst that could happen?  What are the odds?  Is the possibility of anal leakage, stroke, and your skin turning green better than just skipping the onions when it comes to getting rid of heartburn?
4. Remember that diagnoses are just words, numbers are just numbers, and get on with it. 

I have some really nasty ass words written about me on medical records.  I spent some of my precious time being angry about them.  Silliness!  Now I'm just going for it.

I am not going to pass on the yummy fancy drinks. I'm going to try things on the menu I've never had before. I am going to India!  I'm writing a new novel and a new book of interconnected very short stories.  I'm continuing to build the Garden of Many Groovy Things.

I promise to taste, feel, smell, touch, and see as much as I can and appreciate it all without trying to figure out its goodness or badness.  I vow to love and to live and if there comes a time when I can't put words together or travel or chew my food, then by God give me creme brûlée and let me sit in my garden.

Let me sit in the rain, let my joints rust until I turn into a statue on which birds can perch.  If it appears that I'm no longer thinking, leave me to ponder it.  Let me absorb the sunlight and glow at night and let me decompose happily. Just don't tell me I have to take this pill or that pill or have more of some tests or procedures, because I really don't.  If the pill makes me feel better, I'll take it.  Simple, eh?

I don't have time enough - no one has - to waste on fear or anger or filling my head with violence and stupidity.  I choose to be kind and hope that others will.  So when I drop like a fly, I'll drop like a happy one that's lived on good honey and dung.