{"id":40,"date":"2007-01-31T16:26:41","date_gmt":"2007-01-31T23:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/longbeachit.com\/catia\/?p=40"},"modified":"2007-01-31T16:30:51","modified_gmt":"2007-01-31T23:30:51","slug":"fun-playing-the-cancer-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/longbeachit.com\/catia\/?p=40","title":{"rendered":"Fun Playing The Cancer Card"},"content":{"rendered":"
I have to admit it, I’m having fun. The fist time was when the LA Times called to ask me to restart my subscription. The guy tried to entice me with a free subscription to a beauty magazine. After having been on the phone with him for 10 minutes trying in vain to get him to stop trying selling me the paper, I commented rather dryly but sarcastically on his offer telling him that the offer of a beauty magazine with pictures of people with beautiful hair on their heads didn’t quite appeal to me, given that I was scheduled to start hair-dropping chemotherapy in a few weeks. Undaunted, he then offered a cooking magazine. This time I snickered and said something about how inappropriate the offer sounded to a woman about to experience chemo-induced nausea. I think that did it for him.<\/p>\n
Then I had fun at the YMCA, where Kristin and I have been swimming laps on and off for 2 years (though we haven’t done it together for a while). Oftentimes there is a concurrent senior water volleyball game going on while we do our laps. Among those seniors a few women come all made up and drenched in (cheap) perfumes, which makes breathing and getting some cardio action in the pool a lot less fun (especially for Kristin who has asthma). Kristin tried to politely talk to them last year but she was scoffed. The other day I decided to play the cancer card. The women playing have all seen me naked in the locker room, so they all know that I had cancer. While I was doing my laps I was invested with the strong and unpleasant scent. I stopped in the middle of the lane. I apologized for interrupting their game and then quite simply told them that, since I was doing chemo and was nauseous, I would appreciate it if they came to the pool with no perfume on. They all pitied me, suggested I moved to a lane farther away from the woman with the perfume (who was denying wearing a perfume and said it was body wash….whatever… but they all knew who it was!), and finally thanked me for letting them know about it so they could help!<\/p>\n
Bruce too has fun playing the cancer card with telemarketers. The only time I came short of using it was when NOW called me asking for donations. I couldn’t bring myself to use it, though the woman was very insistent and borderline annoying. I just said that although NOW had my full support, because I was dealing with a serious illness I couldn’t help them financially for the moment. I didn’t mention cancer, though probably I should’ve.<\/p>\n