I'm brave, or so they tell me

People often tell me that they think I'm so brave, and that if they were diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, they don't think they could cope. I keep telling them that they could and would, since there's little else to be done. I'd rather keep living than stick my head under the pillow.

Once in a while, though, something gets to me. Though I've been asking people to drive me to my radiation treatments most days, because I know I'll get exhausted at the end if I don't, I drove myself today. Just as I was about to make a right turn into the parking lot at the Gray Cancer Center, an SUV bearing the Hartford Hospital Security logo screeched across the entrance, blocking the way. A little man jumped out and furiously waved on the car in front of me, which proceeded meekly forward. I pushed the button to lower my passenger side window. When the guy saw me lean to the right to speak to him, he began to wave in an exaggerated manner, and yelled, "Not unless you have a medical emergency".

Well, this ticked me off just a bit, and I started to reply, when he seemed to get really enraged, and yelled, "Do you have a medical emergency?" I said, "No, but I have to go there!" He waved his arm to a spot on the side of the road and growled, "Just park there".

When I got out, there were a few gawkers around, but nothing really to explain the reason for the class one alert. So when I got inside I asked someone at the reception desk what was going on. She told me someone had had a seizure in the parking lot.

Now, keep in mind that this is a hospital. Surely they've had visits from people with epilepsy from time to time. And the parking lot that was summarily closed is where people with cancer, some of them close to death, are dropped off to enter the place where they have the treatments that keep them alive. No, surprisingly enough, I was not there to read the magazines, and though the wonderful people in the radiation department often provide homemade baked goods for us, if I had my choice, I'd just visit a local bakery to satisfy my sugar cravings.

I was homicidally furious. The hospital CEO will be receiving a letter.

All of this just to make the point that, yes, I cope. But don't leave the cover off the toothpaste tube, or you'll have to face my wrath.