In some ways it seems as though the medical profession is still “practicing” medicine even today. I hope they “perfect” it soon. I know some friends and relatives who have gone through chemotherapy and/or radiation in an attempt to combat cancer. The suffering of many cancer patients during their treatment is horrific. I can understand why some people choose not to go through it. They make the choice for a semblance of normalcy and quality of life.
And going through this kind of treatment can often empty the bank accounts. Medical care at this level is very expensive. This was one of the reasons the cost of care is so high for us as a culture. We often want everything done for us and everythingis very expensive.
The woman in our text suffered from chronic bleeding. Everything she had tried to do to stop the bleeding had failed. But what I think is even harder is that she went to the medical experts and they were unable to help. The best medicine could do nothing for her except take her money and make her worse. Now that’s good medicine.
Can you imagine how she felt having wasted all that money and not getting any better? In fact, all that intervention made her worse. Discouragement must have overtaken her again and again. I know it would me. With each new doctor she would get a sense of optimism, which was only dashed when she got worse instead of better. I can imagine her giving up, and then gaining the courage to try one more time.
And I can imagine the embarrassment that the treatments brought to her. She would have to tell the history of how the bleeding started over and over again. She would have to repeat all her previous treatments. She would have to go through the exams repeatedly with each new doctor. And if you read about ancient medical treatments you will find that some of them were downright dangerous.
And nothing helped!
I can imagine her hanging her head in discouragement and shame. Doubt she bounded into the crowd whistling and with a skip in her step. I imagine she went in using her Stealth mode. She wanted to get in and out without being noticed. She didn’t want one more failed treatment to become known.
Have you ever been discouraged when an illness got the best of you? Perhaps you can understand how she felt.
The Arnold Journey 