Nation Building at Home: Medical Research

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Issues won't be the topic insist the McCainiacs, character will. But issues have a way of dropping right in your lap when you least expect it. And no I don't mean premarital sex resulting in pregnancy and early marriage which seems to be the mother-daughter bond in the Palin family.

That's the kind of fluff that passes for news in too many circles these days.

For families who live with chronic disease, the news we care about, the news we set up our google alerts for, comes more and more from overseas these days.

Like this news story about research into genetic predisposition to develop chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL], the most common form of leukemia in the western world.

Earlier this week, Tom Friedman, on the Imus show, talked about the importance of Nation Building at Home. He cited physical infrastructure, talking about how the US lags behind other countries in such things as airports.

But there are a lot of other areas where we're lagging behind as well. Like medical research.

And the fact that John McCain has selected as his running mate Sarah Palin, who doesn't believe in a manmade cause of global warming, who threatened to fire Wasilla's librarian over banning books, who flouted the fishing laws of Alaska, who promotes abstinence-only sex education, who's literally and figuratively married to Big Oil...well, that gives me pause.

Reckless endangerment comes to mind, and I'm not just talkin' the puffery over Palin's supposed vast foreign policy experience from living right "next door" to Russia....
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Health Matters...and so does Science

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This morning, I came across one of those beautiful reasons why the blogosphere matters...about far more than politics, or sports, or whatever special interest may usually send you its cyber-siren song.

This morning at DailyKos, the rescue rangers had highlighted a posting by JohnnyRook, a tribute to his wife and caregiver on the occasion of their anniversary. The posting is a poignant one, worth reading all for itself.

But in the reading, I was stopped in my scrolling tracks by one commenter's mention about the possible impact of treating leukemia with methadone. Being part of a leukemia survivor/endurer family, this kind of thing perks up my antennae.

And since google alerts hadn't yet sent this info direct to my inbox, I did a fast shuffle into google to learn more.

Would that all the health-related news from the blogosphere were so uplifting. However, a recent link from reader Melody reminded me that there are sharks in the healthcare industry and its environs as well. Not that that should come as any surprise, since there seem to be so many sharks on the loose in every section and corner of our country these days. And no I don't mean the finny ones swimmin' in the waters of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

I put a mental curse on those folks each time I read in our tall timber weekly newspapers the small ads promoting a benefit dinner for an area resident going thru treatment...and it's usually for some form or other of cancer.

And then there's the word today that Bob Novak got dire news about his brain tumor. As did Senator Ted Kennedy in recent weeks. As a blog commenter I read earlier on another site observed, we wish Novak better than those on the right wished Senator Ted. For each we hope for healing, and courage, and serenity to face the days ahead.

Living with a cancer endurer, I know this is one curse you wish on nobody.

Special props to Joanie McCall of the Park Rapids MN community, who's outlasted her doctor's dire diagnosis for her brain cancer [unfortunately the PR MN paper doesn't seem to keep their stories accessible long enough to link this one].

Back full circle, my wish for you, visitor, is a healthy life, the sustained resource of the Internet to educate and inform you when you need it [as we did and do about the ongoing challenge of living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia], and the hope that the good guys will live long and prosper, and the scoundrels be hoist on their own petard...and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
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