New Beginnings

On this first day of 2007 I am hopeful that the new year will be calmer than the past year. What began last New Year's Day was blissful optimism as I planned my retirement in May after thirty-five years of teaching and an additional six years as an insurance clerk. After the perfunctory round of retirement events, fondly labeled "lisapolooza" by one of my colleagues in the English department, I celebrated retirement. One of my first gifts was from my husband, Cindy Lauper's At Last cd, which I played relentlessly. A second very thoughtful gift was from my daughter Kimberly, a week's bed and breakfast stay in Hot Springs. The highlight of that week was getting to know our grandson Cole more since he was now officially a toddler.

The day after my husband's sixty-sixth birthday, however, we received a call notifying us that his sister Beverlea was in critical condition in Wichita with lung cancer. She lived just two days after we arrived at the hospital. We discovered in going through her papers that she had gotten a CAT Skan a year before but had failed to share with anyone in the family the seriousness of her condition, which evidently began as breast cancer. The summer was even more hectic as we buried Beverlea, cleaned out my father-in-law's house in preparation for an estate sale and real estate listing, and placed P-Pa, as the family calls him, into a nearby assisted-living facility.

Our family has repeatedly discussed the whys of the situation especially these: Why did Beverlea not confide in any of us as she confronted death alone? Why did she not seek medical treatment as most cancer patients do and get chemotherapy and radiation and surgery? My sister Judy tends to think she did not because she wanted "to go out her own way." I tend to think otherwise. You see Beverlea had only the smallest of AARP health care policies that would provide only a tiny payment each day for intensive care. She was sixty-four and not eligible for Medicare. She did not work at a full-time job any longer. In her mind probably she felt she was adequately covered until the CAT Skan was denied any payment by her insurance carrier. We live in America, and yet there seem to be few choices for those "caught in the gap" as we say. She lived with her aged parent, lived on her Social Security check, and had few expenses other than healthcare. My hope for this new year is for a new beginning--that Congress will truly work together to solve the health care crisis for those who must choose to die untreated.