Earth Angels

This happened two weeks ago and I've been debating about posting it here, because it's a little long. I decided to post it, because it was a really awesome reminder about how important human connections can be. It happened after an oncology follow-up at UCSF, so that's the place I'm talking about in the post and "Blind Henry" and "Legless Annalee" are characters in Gary Jules' song "Horses." The lyric goes something like, "Blind Henry said to the Legless Annalee, "Honey, I can reach the pedals, but you're going to have to steer."

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment in the City and after I was done, I sat in the lobby to type an email. It's a nice lobby in the middle of a really big crazy place and it felt good just to sit down with my only real pressure being that it costs $2.00 per 20 minutes to park in the garage across the street.

As I thumb typed the email, this older gentleman asked me for the time, but in the goofy fashion of Jerry Lewis. I wasn't amused, but I politely gave him the time and went back to my email. I could tell he wanted to talk, but I was just a little talked out at the moment. He went away and I finished my email.

For some reason, I didn't feel like getting up. It was really nice not having to rush back to work or have my cell phone ringing. I was able to just sit and watch people. I was trying to diagnose what brought the people to the hospital, but most of them you couldn't tell from the outside. I just settled for the fact that everyone who comes into this place has some kind of battle going on or they love someone so much that is fighting the battle that it becomes their fight, too. Life is crazy, but my point is I didn't feel like getting up just yet.

The older man came back with coffee and leaned down close to my ear and said, "Do you believe in angels?" I thought he was giving me a twisted pick up line and in my head I was saying "ah-hell-to-the-no" (I'm part gansta in my mind.) So out loud I said, "yes, I do."

As he sat next to me, he said in his thick Boston accent, "I never believed in 'em until just now. I'm legally blind and I should have been holding the handrails, I almost fell head over heels down the stairs, but the lady on my right, a stranger, grabbed my arm and saved me. I didn't even get to thank her."

I said, "You could've had a totally different day."

We talked for almost two hours while he waited for his ride. I really liked talking to a blind man. In fact, when we started talking I wondered if it was how the legless Annalee felt when she met blind Henry had we been in a bar. He said that the thing he missed most from not having his sight was the crossword puzzles, but he has a friend he drinks coffee with in the morning at McDonald's, who will write the Jumbles for him really big. He's good at the Jumbles.

He told me he came to California in 1994 by Amtrak. He said, "I had this friend Jim......"

He told me about what he used to eat back home when he was a child. You knew it was Saturday, because you eat hot dogs and beans. Wednesday was pasta. Friday was fish. Sunday was meat and Monday was leftovers.

We talked about old movies and their stars. Rita Hayworth, Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and the tragic deaths of all three stars of "Rebel without a Cause."

His Mom died when she was 38 of a perforated ulcer. He said, "people don't really die from those these days. She could still be around if it happened today." I thought about all the people who are just casualties of time.

He said he has a friend named Vince. He said that I would never believe that Vince is 86 years old. Vince loves to dance. He said that Vince loves to tell him about all the women he dances with and he told me "I asked him one time if his wife don't mind." and Vince said, "She don't pay it no mind. She knows I come home to her."

I looked at David's face. He was clean shaven, which is impressive as he is legally blind, but he had an untamed tuft of thick hair originating in his nostrils. But he was nice to look at sideways and he made me laugh true laughs, not the kind you laugh to be polite. When we weren't talking, he sipped his coffee and we were ok with the silence.

He told me he had gotten a bit of bad news today, but he wasn't going to let it get him down. The doctor said his bladder cancer had come back. He asked me to read his biopsy report to him, which I did and I explained what it said. I worked in a clinical lab for three years when I worked in LA. I picked up a few things, one of those things being how to read a biopsy. Essentially, the second specimen indicated carcinoma and they needed more tests. He said, "That's pretty much what the doctor told me." I wished I could've told him something different. He said he had already had 3 surgeries and BCG treatments. He told me his options and we agreed that they all sounded less than fun. He said he had to have a PET scan and asked me if I knew what it was. I told him it was "a walk in the park" (I had just had one in March) and he looked relieved. I explained it to him and he thanked me.

I asked him if he lived alone and he said yes. He had a 75 year old lady friend, Virginia, that looks in on him from time to time, but "she's so damn busy with her alpacas." She has 50 alpacas and he helps her when he can. He told her "to get rid of those damn things and get a real life, but she's good people."

I finally decided I should go, because the cell phone was going to start up again and his ride was due in 20 minutes and I had end of work day Bay Bridge traffic in my immediate future. I wrote my name and phone number in very large print and gave it to him. I told him to call me if he had any questions or if he has another surgery. I would come and visit. Nobody should have to do these things by themselves. He thanked me because I made his day easier. I told him he shouldn't thank me, because the feeling was mutual and I enjoyed talking to him and I told him he was charming. Yesterday, there were angels everywhere. David just happened to be mine.