It's easy to take things for granted when there is so much to take for granted. It's easy to stop thanking people or for the beauties of everyday life to become nothing but the backdrop. When things don't end up the way you want or you get thrown a curve-ball it's easy to miss how lucky you still are.
I've always prided myself on being able to find good in everyone and everything. It's a trait I learned/inherited from my Grandma. Bombs could be falling all around her and she would remark on the blueness of the sky. She didn't have an easy life but her attitude helped to make it a good one.
Throughout this diabetes thing there have been fleeting moments of self pity and of anger. The unfairness of it all and the incense that it could be me. Then I think of the people in the world who are born in abject poverty or who have had far, far worse things happen to them and I feel sheepish.
The one thing I have come to appreciate even more than I already did is the Canadian health care system. You hear people complaining about it (which confirms my ever-strengthening theory that Canadians love to complain - it's part of our self-deprecating psyches) but when you need it, it just swoops in there like a net. I have seen doctors, dietitians and nurses and I have seen them within weeks of my diagnosis and hours at a time. There is a whole clinic set up in Calgary just for diabetic women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant. They set up lab tests, ultrasounds and specialist appointments with warmth, speed and efficiency. And it doesn't cost a thing. I feel like I have had better care than I probably would anywhere else in the world and I draw real comfort from that knowledge that it isn't in any way related to my race or income. It feels good to know that any woman who found herself in this position would receive good care. Because after all, those who cannot pay for it usually need it most.
It's not perfect and like anything in life, our health-care system could use some improvements. It could also use some of our gratitude.
4 comments:
AMEN! Three cheers! Huzzah! What she said, y'all. (and here's hoping you don't mind a damn yankee interjecting her opinion on the matter)
Another yank agrees. I miss Alberta Health Care. I miss my government funded resources that didn't require 2 hour phone conversations with an insurance provider. When people ask me what I miss the most about home, my answer without hesitation is always, ' the health care system.'
From a Nurse: Thanks! It's nice to know that SOME ONE appreciates us. Sometimes it's good to be reminded that the Health Care system does work, despite it's faults. I wish I could give your post to some of my clients who complain about having to wait 15 minutes past their appointment time to see me and then threaten to phone their MLA about it. Seriously, get a grip. It could be a lot worse.
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