It's been a busy week.

I wish I could say I spent the past week in Brazil and helped search the rain forest for a rare yellow-green spotted purple tree frog that would provide a serum that could cure cancer once and for all.

And best yet...WE FOUND IT!

Instead...I lost a week to working around the shack (aka: the house).

However over the course of the last week I did come across an article in the USA Today that was on the front page. It read: Cancer burden expected to soar, overwhelm doctors.

Of course it got my attention. It basically said that by 2020 the number of Americans either diagnosed and or treated for Cancer will grow to 18.2 million people up from 11.7 million in 2005. Today 1 in 26 people have had cancer. By 2020 the number is 1 in 19.

The article goes on to say that Cancer is a disease of the aging. So the more people living past 65 combined with early detection and better treatment methods increase this number. A report in the Journal of Oncology Practice stated that more than HALF of most medical Oncologists are past the age of 50 themselves and could retire soon.

Cancer patients could and may already out number the doctors available to treat them.

We were in the office this past Friday for blood work (got there as the snow was just starting to come down) and I heard a nurse tell a woman in the waiting room that she had to continue to wait as there was no room for her yet, "All the chairs are filled" she said.

I am amazed week in and week out how busy that office is. I sit there usually one of the youngest people in the room and see that the disease spans generations. And the numbers keep growing.

I am not about to run off and study up and become an Oncologist. But this set back in my life has opened my eyes to how fast things can unravel in your life, how many sick people there are in the world and how fast you can go from living your life to fighting for it, on more than just a physical level.

Somewhere in between there has to be a happy medium. Dawn and I talk about it all the time. Our life has taken some twists we didn't plan on. All we can do is roll with the punches as best we can.

But you are never prepared for stuff like this.

This is always a kick in the teeth, a kick in the stomach, or a kick in the ass.

Another article I found also in the USA Today involved Hospitals struggling with "Spiritual" care for their patients. The article commented on how very little is actually done for the sick and dying when it comes to their religious communities. The article said some churches and congregations can easily lose touch with members too sick to attend services.

And some Hospitals with tight budgets have cut funding for chaplain services and for those that haven't find there aren't enough chaplains to go around.

"But experts from religious and medical organizations acknowledge that the study reflects an uncomfortable truth: Many professionals, from pastors to physicians, lack the training or skills to help dying patients cope with spiritual questions."

This is obviously another void that needs to be filled. When I was in St Clares a day or two after kidney Surgery a casually dressed man walked into my room and asked if I would like to pray. He introduced himself as a volunteer with the hospital. I accepted his offer and coming from a Pentacostal background (I failed to realize at that moment I was in a Catholic hospital) we simply prayed the "The Lord's Prayer" and he left. I guess I expected a little bit more.

Needless to say I didn't get much out of his visit. It was not what he tried to accomplish or the prayer itself, it was him and his inability to make a connection, I guess. He lead the prayer and pretty much left. (at least that is what I remember. I was a day out of surgery...maybe there was more to it than that.) But I think I see what the author of the article is saying.

Anytime I'm in a hospital these days I always glance down the hallway to the chapel. I don't recall being in one since my Grandmother was diagnosed with Cancer in 1988, but the world is a hard place, Cancer only makes it harder. I can appreciate the value of a "spiritual boost" not to mention the level of support I feel knowing how many prayer lists or prayer chains my name is on.

Maybe I should combine my 20 to 25 (give or take) years in the church and my experience with Cancer and do something with that. I have also thought about going "medical" and about becoming a nurse and perhaps working in oncology, but I can't stand that place now as a patient...much less imagine it as a job, so that angle is out.

Maybe, I need to research this more. But either way my quest for a career "helping" people in some capacity is officially "ON".

And if the career thing doesn't come together right away I'm getting involved somewhere, somehow...because a lot of people have stepped up to help us out in a lot of different ways. I can't ignore other people in trouble anymore. It's not just about me and mine. Numero Uno. Selfish doesn't cut it.

We have all heard or said "we're all in the same boat" well instead of struggling for a better position in the boat, more people should be helping the people overboard treading water, because it doesn't take much to end up there.

It doesn't take much at all.