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03-06-2004, 11:50 AM

I was feeling pretty good today. I managed to take my son to the park and out for ice cream. Then I went to have my nails done and to Home Depot to run an errand, no easy thing as I am on oxygen 24/7. Some days, I can't even make it out of the house.
So I am waiting to get out of the parking lot, and there is a lot of traffic, and my oxygen is starting to tick down. I have about 15 minutes left to get home. Some guy tries to cut me off even though he sees I have a handicapped placard and am sucking on a tube and have that anxious look on my face. So I inch forward in line so he can't cut me off and darn it, I tap the bumper of the car in front of me. I must have been going like 3 miles an hour.

I try to pull over and the lady passenger of the car gets out and starts SCREAMING at me. "WHAT THE HE-- DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING." And I am desparately trying to pull over to exchange numbers and she is like chasing me on foot in my car SCREAMING and yelling obscenities at me "YOU OTTA LEARN HOW TO DRIVE or GET OFF THE F---ING ROAD". Now mind you she also can see, I am sucking on a tube and getting very shaky cause I have only 10 minutes left, and she too can see the handicapped placard.

I finally get a parking space, lug my tank out of the car to exchange information and the husband asks why I did it and I tell him, I am running out of oxygen and have been waiting to get out of the parking lot now for over 15 minutes. Luckily he sees there is almost no damage that a little buffing wouldn't take care of and he says he will take care of it. Then in a kind but patronizing kind of way tells me to be more careful.

I felt totally totally demoralized. Here was my nice day out with new pink nails and a lady making me feel about 2 inches tall. I could see she had kids in the back seat and I wanted to say to her, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU KNEW YOU WERE NEVER GONNA GET TO SEE YOUR KIDS GROW UP? MAYBE YOU OTTA REALIZE IT IS JUST PAINT ON A BUMPER AND LIGHTEN UP?????

(and all this because the oxygne company won't give me an extra tank. So when I go out I ration my oxygen and usually take less than I need so I will have enough time. How did I know the grocery store was going to have a special and eveyone would be there in the parking lot? )

I guess it seems so undignified to me to have to fight on all fronts. I wish we could just have our dignity and live whatever time we have with that.

Thanks for listening.

03-06-2004, 11:50 AM	#1
anonymous Guest Posts: n/a	I was feeling pretty good today. I managed to take my son to the park and out for ice cream. Then I went to have my nails done and to Home Depot to run an errand, no easy thing as I am on oxygen 24/7. Some days, I can't even make it out of the house. So I am waiting to get out of the parking lot, and there is a lot of traffic, and my oxygen is starting to tick down. I have about 15 minutes left to get home. Some guy tries to cut me off even though he sees I have a handicapped placard and am sucking on a tube and have that anxious look on my face. So I inch forward in line so he can't cut me off and darn it, I tap the bumper of the car in front of me. I must have been going like 3 miles an hour. I try to pull over and the lady passenger of the car gets out and starts SCREAMING at me. "WHAT THE HE-- DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING." And I am desparately trying to pull over to exchange numbers and she is like chasing me on foot in my car SCREAMING and yelling obscenities at me "YOU OTTA LEARN HOW TO DRIVE or GET OFF THE F---ING ROAD". Now mind you she also can see, I am sucking on a tube and getting very shaky cause I have only 10 minutes left, and she too can see the handicapped placard. I finally get a parking space, lug my tank out of the car to exchange information and the husband asks why I did it and I tell him, I am running out of oxygen and have been waiting to get out of the parking lot now for over 15 minutes. Luckily he sees there is almost no damage that a little buffing wouldn't take care of and he says he will take care of it. Then in a kind but patronizing kind of way tells me to be more careful. I felt totally totally demoralized. Here was my nice day out with new pink nails and a lady making me feel about 2 inches tall. I could see she had kids in the back seat and I wanted to say to her, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU KNEW YOU WERE NEVER GONNA GET TO SEE YOUR KIDS GROW UP? MAYBE YOU OTTA REALIZE IT IS JUST PAINT ON A BUMPER AND LIGHTEN UP????? (and all this because the oxygne company won't give me an extra tank. So when I go out I ration my oxygen and usually take less than I need so I will have enough time. How did I know the grocery store was going to have a special and eveyone would be there in the parking lot? ) I guess it seems so undignified to me to have to fight on all fronts. I wish we could just have our dignity and live whatever time we have with that. Thanks for listening.