Answering the Ringing Bell

I'm typing this with my fingers crossed (which might help my spelling but will do nothing for my grammar, I fear) since, by the time you read this, I should have completed the radiation treatments in my fight against prostate cancer. 

I can't type 'successfully' in that previous sentence because there's still a long wait for the results of a series of blood tests that measure levels of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) whose ceaseless increases almost three years ago signaled the start of this campaign.

It was a morning follow-up appointment with my urologist at William H. Backus Hospital when he dropped the "C" word into the conversation and outlined a proposed course of treatment. After he paused at some point I asked him if he would repeat what he'd just explained since, I had to confess, I had trouble hearing him over the screaming in my own head. He assured me mine was not a unique reaction to a cancer diagnosis. And so began my education.

I've always regarded myself as lucky. I met and married the girl of my dreams almost forty-six years ago while a guest in her country (our anniversary is the 21st of this month). Together we have two children raised nearly entirely here in Norwich. I had a career that brought me joy every day I worked (and my bosses most days when I departed). 

The house my wife and I share is within walking distance of Backus Hospital and we have in the course of the three-plus decades we've lived in Norwich had many, too many I might say, occasions to avail ourselves of the time and talents of so many talented healthcare professionals across a variety of specialties. 

Part of my good fortune includes, unlike almost twenty-eight million other Americans, having health insurance, with prescription benefits and hospitalization. In case, you haven't noticed, and touch wood if you've never needed to worry about it (yet), America is a very expensive place to become sick. 

There are currently seventy-two countries in the world with universal health care, including Albania, Mexico, and the United Kingdom but the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave is not one of them. 

Health insurance provides for regular physician visits with as-required lab tests, and follow-ups to include diagnostic testing and prescription medication that contributes mightily to living longer and fuller lives. Botswana and the Maldives both also have universal health care so I'm always bewildered at how so many of us bristle with annoyance if not outrage when I wonder why we cannot  (will not?) create a healthcare system for every American. 

I'm sort of stealing a march on Movember which gets a lot of media attention and is an annual event when prominent public figures (usually men, joke intended) grow mustaches during November to help raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. It's all well and good to emphasize a month but even better if we can do it every day of every month. Agreed?

I've sort of sleepwalked through most of my life, to be honest. When I look in the mirror I still see a strapping, handsome,, talented man in the prime of his life, a real dynamo and a two-fisted humdinger of a guy ready for anything (and modest. Did I mention my modesty?). Until the day my doctor said cancer, and then everything got very real, very fast. Don't sleep through your wake-up call.
-bill kenny