Gayl the doctor

I refuse to believe that there was not more that could have been done for Gayl. Why give up? Because the doctors had no imagination and because they could see no benefit for the money that would have to be spent. Even though I waved bank accounts and credit cards at them, they were just not going to try. Well, why could we not just have a series of surgeries to remove the cancer, surgeries that used both MRI images and microscopic surgery. Maybe multiple surgeries over a period of a week or two. I suggested this approach, and the doctors said no, it would not work. Why not? Cost? I'll bet they were afraid that they would not be reimbursed by the government if they did the surgical approach. So, they just sat back, got their money, and left her to do what she could without any medical help. Doctors cannot treat people properly, and its all because the dam insurance companies control the delivery of medical care. And it does not matter what an individual offers to the doctor in terms of money, it just does not matter. The insurance companies have too much power and they do not care who they kill as long as they can get their money. We need to get away from insurance companies being in control, and definitely not use a single payer or government controlled medical payment system.

And no one, and I mean no one, in the system cared about Gayl's pain, her health, or anything about her. Neither did her family or friends. If the legal system, or any one of the doctors, or any of the government bureaucrats had bothered do do anything other than eat their lunch and screw off while trying to keep their useless jobs; if any of these people had ever, ever bothered to listen, let alone fix Gayl's pain then we could have beat the final disease. The only thing that the doctors and insurance companies ever cared about was money. The only thing that the bureaucrats cared about was keeping her in their system and notching up another score for themselves. I was literally the only one fighting alongside Gayl to help her. And I am not a doctor, I can't do medical things and no one would listen to me.

You see, for all these government people in Ohio and Michigan; for ALL of them, Gayl was expendable. They slaughtered her. She was just a tool to advance their careers. They did not care about the results to her of the many injustices that they inflicted upon her. Well, she is not expendable. She is everything for me. And I don't care what happens to them, but people will know what they did to her.

All of my personal feelings aside, what angers me is that no one seems to understand or appreciate what a wonderful person was murdered by the bureaucracies of Michigan and Ohio. Let me tell you another story about Gayl the doctor. About nine months after my brain tumor was removed I had a minor follow-up at the base hospital in Colorado Springs. Now, within the previous two weeks the command's chief master sergeant had died of a heart attack that he had less than 100 feet from that hospital's emergency room. He was 100 feet or less away, and they screwed it up so bad that he died. So, we walk in the door by the ER and here is another heart attack being "handled." Bunches of doctors, the hospital commander, you name it; all in the room trying to save the guy and they are losing him. Gayl takes it all in faster than you have read this sentence, spins to the right and walks into the ER and starts giving medical orders. She is so authoritative, so in charge, so competent, that everyone and I mean EVERYONE in the room starts doing what she says. Full colonels. The hospital commander. All the doctors. Nurses. Everyone. She brings order out of chaos and saves the guy. I was there. I saw it. This guy was flatlined and everyone was panicking trying to get him back. All these guys shouting out medical orders. Picture it, all these big guys, some over six feet tall. Scared they are going to lose the guy, because (I later found out) he had the heart attack in the waiting room and they were flubbing it again. And in walks Gayl. All 5 foot, two inches of her; but eyes fierce and full of fire; I mean blazing. And she just took charge and saved this guy's life. She was not on staff, she was just walking by and saw what was going on. Maybe if you have never been in the military you will not understand, but for a civilian female to walk into a room full of high ranking military men working a crisis that is falling apart and just take over is unheard of. And she did. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea. No yelling, no shouting. Just this calm, assured voice I know so well. You see, she is a great doctor and she cares; and she could size up the whole situation in a flash and tell they were treating him incorrectly. And the patient lived and went home. And I just watched from outside the room. And this was the same hospital commander who just 10 months previously had tried to force me out of the service instead of paying for the brain tumor surgery that I needed. Well, I guess it finally dawned on him just how good Gayl is, and after the guy was taken from the ER to intensive care, he talked to Gayl and asked her to work there. I hope, I pray, that you understand just how awesome she is as a doctor. I always told people that Bones McCoy on his best day was just about par with Gayl on her average day. And no one cared. No one seems to realize what a wonderful person we have lost.

I miss Gayl very much; its like my soul has been torn out and the Sun can never shine again. And I am so very tired and lonely here in the dark and cold of this world.