Other Things on Laura's Mind

Ok, so y'all are probably sick of reading about walking and I don't blame you.  I do have other things on my mind.  Some great weighty things and some other just interesting (at least to me) things and being that this is MY blog, I guess I get to be the judge of that.  I always wanted to be Queen of the World.  I just didn't expect the scope of it to be quite this small.  Oh well.  So here goes...

When I was a little girl, my dad called me Lard Bucket.  It was a term of endearment.  Really!!  and it fit.  I was a chunk.  Look..

Look at the rolls on those adorable thighs.  I think that was the last time my thighs were adorable. Anyway, dad called me Lard Bucket for years.  In case you don't know, lard used to come in little miniature buckets.  Back when my dad was young those buckets were made of tin and used for lunch pails once emptied.  So, it when I reached about 3 years of age, I think I was just about a year here, someone said to me "Aren't you cute?! What is your name?"  and I answered "Laura Bucket Powell".  My dad quickly found a new term of endearment!!

Ok, now a more serious subject.  If you are a follower and have read back in the blog, you know that my mother and I had to make a decision as to her care when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2007.  The treatment was as hard, if not harder on her than the disease, and we reached a point where we needed to just spend some quality time together and know that eventually her disease would kill her, but she would not suffer any undue pain.  We did just that and had a 6 months of her being ok and able to enjoy what was rest of her life without the constant interference of the medication.

The medication is the issue that I have.  First, I need to address the fact that modern medicine is amazing and can and does do miraculous things every day.  And Oncologists are often nothing short of miracle workers.  However, their reputations and careers are solely based on keeping patients alive.  Without regard to the quality of that life.   My mother's body was broken, her spine was crushed and compressing more all the time, her kidneys had been damaged by the disease.  The doctor said "Well, we can probably give you 2 more years."  But what kind of years?  Years in pain?  Years sick because of the potency of the meds?

The reason this comes up today is that last night I was watching the news and Dr. Sanjay Gupta was running on about a new Prostate Cancer "vaccine" that was probably going to be approved by the FDA very shortly.  And its big plus?  It could give a man maybe 4 more months to live.  4?  4?  And its cost?  Astronomical!!

Maybe I am seeing this through a different lens than others but I could not for the life of me grasp the benefit of this.  Is this what medical science is spending billions on?  Is this why our medical costs are so high because of R&D cost on drugs like this?  I love the people I love and like most everyone else and I would not give this drug to anyone that I love or like.  Because 4 months is a false promise at best and I can't imagine anyone that loves me or their families (the ones I like) willing to bankrupt their families to postpone the inevitable for 4 months.   Senseless.

Enough for tonight.  I will do more like this later