making sense of it

My treatment has commenced. This week involves three days in New York for tests and pre-treatment work. It’s a three week “process” and I am nearing the end of week one.

On Tuesday I witnessed the inauguration of Barack Obama in the Sloan Kettering Nuclear Medicine waiting room. To be trite, it was hopeful, moving…. And it wasn’t only for the evident progress of our country and the historical significance of this day. While all eyes were glued to CNN, a Sloan Kettering motorcade paraded through the hospital. The entourage included pediatric cancer patients, their secret service agents (nurses), and a homemade white house and presidential mobile built on radio flyers. We were transported from our own fears as we looked into the eyes of these brave children. We held back tears, so that we appeared strong. We waved and clapped to our dignitary patients, and when they were gone we could cry. No matter who you voted for, the election of President Obama is evidence to every patient “that all things are possible to those who believe” Mark 9:23

President Obama’s work and inherited problems are burdensome. Our industries and infrastructures are reddened with malignancies. As the children marched away, celebrating and encouraging this new president, I pray for what he can do for them. I trust in the conception of a better health care system, more money to be directed to notoriously lower funded cancers (sadly many of these are childhood cancers) and that with God beside him, Obama can give our children (especially our dignitaries) hope.