Becoming a woman of action

I don't watch a heck of a lot of television, and when I do I tend to zone out on the commercials, but for the past few days I've been seeing a commercial for one of the cancer centers. The story is that the woman in the ad spot was diagnosed with cancer, and was given only a few months to live. She speaks about her dissatisfaction with the way she was treated by her doctor, telling her she was going to die as though he was telling her she was going to the grocery store. No bedside manner. One of her family members contacted this cancer center, where they were much more compassionate, and did some additional work, which made her much happier. The end result was, her cancer is now in remission.

Now, I know this was one of those glurge commercials, and the cancer center is actually a spiritual center that uses "complementary treatment methods" along with surgery, chemo, etc. But, even so, it has really brought back to me the frustration that I was feeling when my father was diagnosed with cancer back in 1997. I didn't like his doctor (the one I met, who ignored my dad because he was having trouble articulating due to the medication he was on at the time), and I didn't believe that they were doing all they could, or working with an appropriate sense of urgency on his diagnosis.

I was aggravated, and I wanted to do something. I wanted to contact some other organization, or bring him to Houston for treatment, or at least demand more from his doctors -- but I didn't. And now, years later, I keep hearing myself sounding like Oskar Schindler, "I could have done more, I could have done more." I'm not sure that it would have helped, and I certainly don't think that he would be alive now, but I think I would feel less angry about the situation if I had tried harder. I don't expect I will be so passive in the future.

That's it. Just where my head has been recently.