Mark is back in Austin.Not at Amy's ice cream like the song goes, however he was Chuy's for lunch and out later for a short time (8 pm until 11) to listen to music at Artz Rib House and in the 6th street area : all these short but important adventures with his friend Ken Walker who came over from Mississippi with his brother to visit with Mark. Ken has moved to Mississsippi to help his brother care for their mom. Although Mark is in pain, isn't out of bed more than three hours at a time, and his energy level is way down; he plans his rest and sleep and medication so he can get out a bit and make life seem worth living. Friends, both old and new, are extremely important to him and he loves live music, so isn't it neat that he is in the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world: Austin, Texas . Mark did have to cut his visit with Kenny short one day because of an appointment with the oncologist in Houston. He gave up going to look at motorcycles with Ken to see about treatment at the VA. Mark's friend Ken is a neat guy: retired bank examiner. His brother works for google.
Our trip home from Bangkok was very rough. Through a series of e-mails to the Bangkok United Service team, I had arranged good seats on a United flight home as well as a wheelchair for Mark. We arrived at the new Bangkok airport at 4:30 am. There was no wheelchair and we stood in line only to learn that our packed flight had been cancelled. We were instructed to go stand in line in the Japanese airline lines (JAL) to get another flight. We were 4th in one line. None of the lines were served until 7 am. Although we were 4th in one of the 6 or 7 long lines of people trying to get on this flight due to the United cancellation, we could not have a seat with extra leg room. Eventually we got a wheelchair for the trip to the distant gate. There is little or no compassion for anyone traveling who is ill or needs anything special unless you are traveling business class, which we were not. The airline staff on this trip frequently reminded me of cattle herders prodding the cattle to be in line and load up for the cattle car. Even fellow passengers can't be counted on for compassion. I was trying to load a heavy carry on bag of Mark's in the overhead bin. The stewardesses and stewards were yelling at people to get out of the aisles and get things in the over head bins or under the seats. Ever try to load a heavy bag in the overhead while out of the aisle? I nearly fell over the back of my seat trying. No offers of help from men around me. A guy loading the food carts onto the air plane finally helped me and the stewardess yelled: "That's not his job. He can't do that", but the deed was done. Thank-you Lord for compassionate people. We were 4 hours late getting to Tokyo and lost Mark's chance to rest there. We had to run a long distance accross the airport to barely get on the plane. We were late into San Francisco and missed our flight which was a straight flight to Austin. Again, no wheelchair which I had ordered. The agent at the gate looked his list over and said no we were not on his list for wheelchairs and acted like it would take an act of God or intervention from the CEO of the airlines to get one so Mark walked. He can walk but it just saps his energy and causes him pain. We then had to stand in another long line to be re-routed and a leg was added through Denver. While I went to the bathroom, Mark apparently began to look so pale and in pain that a nice couple in line made him go sit down and told the agent that he really had to have a wheelchair. Ironically when we boarded the plane I was able to trade seats with the husband of this couple who helped us so they could sit accoss the aisle from each other instead of far apart. What goes around comes around. Right? Do airline employees reap good or bad karma depending on how they treat passengers? It is surely possible.
After our long hard trip home, Mark had about 18 hours rest before heading to Houston on Wednesday for a bone scan on Thursday. We'll leave again for Houston today (Sunday) for an appointment with the oncologist on Monday. It is good he was able to have some outings with friends yesterday...otherwise life would just be a series of struggles with airline employees and hospital staff who have no compassion at all and are doing a job for a paycheck; a life of waiting in airport lines and waiting in hospital waiting rooms. When your life is shortened, it seems a shame to have to spend so much of it just waiting.
Our trip home from Bangkok was very rough. Through a series of e-mails to the Bangkok United Service team, I had arranged good seats on a United flight home as well as a wheelchair for Mark. We arrived at the new Bangkok airport at 4:30 am. There was no wheelchair and we stood in line only to learn that our packed flight had been cancelled. We were instructed to go stand in line in the Japanese airline lines (JAL) to get another flight. We were 4th in one line. None of the lines were served until 7 am. Although we were 4th in one of the 6 or 7 long lines of people trying to get on this flight due to the United cancellation, we could not have a seat with extra leg room. Eventually we got a wheelchair for the trip to the distant gate. There is little or no compassion for anyone traveling who is ill or needs anything special unless you are traveling business class, which we were not. The airline staff on this trip frequently reminded me of cattle herders prodding the cattle to be in line and load up for the cattle car. Even fellow passengers can't be counted on for compassion. I was trying to load a heavy carry on bag of Mark's in the overhead bin. The stewardesses and stewards were yelling at people to get out of the aisles and get things in the over head bins or under the seats. Ever try to load a heavy bag in the overhead while out of the aisle? I nearly fell over the back of my seat trying. No offers of help from men around me. A guy loading the food carts onto the air plane finally helped me and the stewardess yelled: "That's not his job. He can't do that", but the deed was done. Thank-you Lord for compassionate people. We were 4 hours late getting to Tokyo and lost Mark's chance to rest there. We had to run a long distance accross the airport to barely get on the plane. We were late into San Francisco and missed our flight which was a straight flight to Austin. Again, no wheelchair which I had ordered. The agent at the gate looked his list over and said no we were not on his list for wheelchairs and acted like it would take an act of God or intervention from the CEO of the airlines to get one so Mark walked. He can walk but it just saps his energy and causes him pain. We then had to stand in another long line to be re-routed and a leg was added through Denver. While I went to the bathroom, Mark apparently began to look so pale and in pain that a nice couple in line made him go sit down and told the agent that he really had to have a wheelchair. Ironically when we boarded the plane I was able to trade seats with the husband of this couple who helped us so they could sit accoss the aisle from each other instead of far apart. What goes around comes around. Right? Do airline employees reap good or bad karma depending on how they treat passengers? It is surely possible.
After our long hard trip home, Mark had about 18 hours rest before heading to Houston on Wednesday for a bone scan on Thursday. We'll leave again for Houston today (Sunday) for an appointment with the oncologist on Monday. It is good he was able to have some outings with friends yesterday...otherwise life would just be a series of struggles with airline employees and hospital staff who have no compassion at all and are doing a job for a paycheck; a life of waiting in airport lines and waiting in hospital waiting rooms. When your life is shortened, it seems a shame to have to spend so much of it just waiting.
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