Friday, July 31, 2009

Out of Gas


Last year Madera Management Company bought a Ford Ranger pickup as a get-around vehicle for our office staff. Lately we had been keeping the truck in our parking lot at night and on weekends. Monday morning last week we arrived at the office to find a suspicious puddle running out from under the truck into the parking lot. Smelled a lot like gasoline.

Sure enough, over the weekend the truck had been gas-jacked. The jack-gas goof-balls couldn't steal gas the old fashioned way with a hose stuck down the gas fill neck. They punched a crude hole in the bottom of the fiberglass gas tank. The $900-to-buy-a-new-one gas tank. Then, to ventilate the tank so the gas would flow out more easily, the goof-balls cut the formed hose running from the fill neck to the tank. Couldn't just take off the gas cap (because, why?). So, to steal $30 of gas the goof-balls did $1,500 of damage to our truck.

So for a week and a half the truck was out of gas and out of service. Dead in the water.

Getting chemo-therapy has had a similar effect on Sue. The chemo really punches a hole in her gas tank and puts her out of service. She's got no get-up-and-go. It makes you wish the medics could figure out a way to get the cancer cells out without destroying the vessel. As progressed as we are, medically speaking, we might still be just this side of the stone age in terms of treating the blood cancers. You kind of wince at the "cure," like watching (reenactments of) the butcher-like (but life-saving) surgical removal of limbs in the civil war battlefield "hospitals."

On the other hand, what are the alternatives? We're grateful for the medical professionals, the medical facilities, the drugs and the advancement of myeloma knowledge and treatments over the past 50 years. The medics aren't malicious goof-balls. They're sincere professionals who've dedicated their lives to the advancement of knowledge and treatment of this killing disease we call cancer.

I'd like to thank all the medical professionals who've treated Sue, and all who've gone before you. As for the goof-balls who gas-jacked our truck .... well .... nah, forget it. My wife's fighting to get a life back. I hope you just get one.

1 comment:

  1. I'm so sorry about your wife.

    I was searching the internet because I went to fill my 1995 Ford Ranger with fuel and when I did, the fuel just spilled to the ground.

    When I looked underneath, the hose that would take the fuel to the tank was cut in half. I'm not sure if a hole was placed in the fuel tank or not.

    I called my mechanic and told them about the cut tube. They told me it would be around $600 to fix it. I am a young, single female and I don't know anyone where I live.

    In your experience, does this sound correct? It seems like it would be an easy fix, but I have no clue.

    I would greatly appreciate any response. Thank you very much.

    Heather
    haviland.heather @ yahoo.com (please remove spaces).

    ReplyDelete