Since I have been diagnosed with lung cancer, I have noticed that life is ALOT more stressful than before. You would think “well Donnie your dying from lung cancer, I would be stressed to!” But thats not the case at all. Most if not all of our stress ( my families’) comes from having to deal with people who are supposed to be making this crisis easier for me.
For example, since May I have flown out of Palm Springs airport directly to Chicago, but in June American Airlines stopped the non stop flight from Palm Springs. The new flight plan involved a layover at Dallas for 1 hour, barely enough time to change planes if the gate was in another terminal.
So now we fly out of John Wayne airport non stop to Chicago, but, we have had our problems there also.
American airlines has a “Special Needs” hotline you can call to let them know if your handicap and what your needs are. I called them 3 weeks before my flight to let them know I had an Oxygen Concentrator. The rep from AA was great, told me if my concentrator was approved for flight, asked me what my volume of O2 was, (2ml) then he told me exactly how many batteries I would need for flight (typically 150% battery life for the flight time). SO if the flight was say 3 hours I would need 5 hours battery time. We figured my flight time would be roughly 4 hours so I would need 6 hours battery life. My batteries last about 3-4 hours each so I had 4 when I got to the airport, thats about 12 hours battery life.
Well imagine my surprise when the ticket lady says I’m sorry you don’t have enough batteries…
Not only that but she also informs me that I need 12 batteries! Believe you me I was about ready to go postal on this lady, thank God my wife was there.
They delayed us for 1.5 hours, we got there with 3 hours to spare to make the flight. The whole issue was over a sentence in the airlines printed “Dr.s slip”. It asks on one line are you going to use the concentrator in pulse mode or continuous mode? (pulse mode only gives O2 when you inhale so it saves battery life). I use it in pulse mode. And that was noted accordingly, now the next says “Will you need to continuously use the concentrator while taxiing, takeoff, landing, taxiing to the gate etc. My Dr. put yes. Well the ticket lady says to me that means your using it in continuous mode, so you’ll need 12 batteries.
I’m trying to explain to this college educated person that the sentence is merely saying I will need to use my concentrator continuously, but in pulse mode not continuous mode. She disagreed and then basically told me and my wife to get out of the way she had other people to tend to.
I have to tell you it took all the patience I had not to reach across the counter and strangle this lady. My wife believe it or not had to calm me down, I was livid.
Finally after 1.5 hours a manager come up and she although at first didn’t agree with me, finally agreed that the statement is misleading and that the paper needs to be rewrote. So we finally get to get on the plane.
What kills me if everyone seems to think that I am heading out on vacation, I threatened the manager with a lawsuit, told her I am heading to CTCA to get chemo for my lung cancer, if I miss this appointment because of your airlines I will sue! I need chemo every 3 weeks, I have been doing this since May and everytime I fly its another problem with the airlines!
What really gets me is I go through all the trouble to jump through the hoops and such and still because the right hand does not know or care what the left hand has done I find myself in these predicaments.
Now I travel alone, I’m well enough that I don’t need the wife to come with me, (basically I can’t afford to fly her with me), so I’m praying that God grant me patience or you may be hearing in the news that man with lung cancer goes nutty in airport!
I’m smiling really I am, anyway this was just ONE of the things that drives me crazy when dealing with people. Now I have a true sense of how handicap people are treated in life. I want to add I am truly, deeply sorry for anyone in my life that I may have given a hard time not realizing they were handicapped.
God Bless all cancer fighters, caretakers, survivors, and their families!
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