Surreal

6:45 AM, 15 minutes later than normal and I was paying the piper with the length of the checkout line that stretched out in front of me. But I had to have my morning infusion of caffeine and the location of the 7-Eleven off Wootton Parkway was convenient.

“Infusion of caffeine”, I chuckle to myself realizing the unintended pun.

Looking at all the men in front me who were heading off to work I grasp the incongruity of my day and theirs. Hard working blue collar stiffs stretch out in the line before me. I'm thinking that most of them are landscapers with probably nothing more on their minds than how hot it’s going to get and whether the Gatorade in their hand will be enough to quench their thirst today. I want to tell all these guys around me that a year ago that’s all I’d be thinking about too and that that is all I wish I thought about on mornings like this. Wonder about how hot it’s going to get and gripe about the morning traffic.

But that’s not my day, not today.

And with that thought the surreality of my day washes over me. While they head off to work I was heading off to the hospital. While they would be riding around in trucks or on mowers I’d be sitting in an infusion chair. While their life giving liquid would be coming out of a Gatorade bottle mine would be coming out of a plastic bag.

One day, every other week Mr. Kenney and it really only takes an hour. One day, every other week and you get to live1.

Footnotes
1  The author was diagnosed with Stage IV Esophageal Cancer in June of 2013. He is participating in a clinical trial of an immunotherapy drug named MEDI4736 and is currently enjoying an extended lease on life.