A Month-Long Amtrak Ride

The main reason for the long absence with this blog - family. A very broad category, but an important one.

First of all, a person can learn so much about health conditions when someone in the family has one, whether it is yourself or another person close to you. Some may be small, minor and easily treatable health conditions, and then there are those that will turn a person's world upside down and backwards.

Every day there are people having heart attacks, aneurysms, kidney failures, head trauma, suffering severe burns and so on. These people definitely suffer to varying degrees and either have persistent or chronic problems, which eventually leads to death, they adjust to a new way of living, or recover and go back to life as they had lived it.

All families are different. Here is mine - although I try to not take this blog to a personal level. Within the last few months there have been family members and two friends who suffered either a stroke, a heart attack, both, a severe foodbourne illness, have come out of remission from cancer, or lost their battle with cancer. This alters everything we like to call normal everyday routine. These people who are suffering may never get to go back to the 'normal everyday routine', or have to rearrange their idea of what normal is. And it doesn't matter how hard a person may fight for their lives or against the unknown, nature will play it's role in which road will be taken and how that road is travelled. It's like getting on an Amtrak train and telling the conductor you'll get off at whatever stop he determines. Just don't give any one of us the itinerary.

And, as far as the ages of the people each disease has affected? A niece, 20 years old; a father-in-law, 74; a cousin, 45; a friend's 12 year-old daughter; and a another friend, 72. A pretty broad range of ages, testifying to the 'it can happen to anyone' theory.

This is not a plea for sympathy, just an observation, and a vision of the hardship so many people go through daily when they're dealing with disease and trauma. Sometimes it takes going through tough times yourself to see - REALLY see - the physical, emotional and psychological pain both the sick and their families experience. It's not an easy road, but you know, it really does heighten a person's empathy and builds a stronger, more responsive self. And, in the grand scheme of things in life, being there for family is the best, most rewarding trip anyone could ever take!