i’ve seen quite a few posts from us poor ole BC sufferers using our illness to get what we want. so i decided to start a new thread mainly for a laugh but also to share tips to make sure we all get more of what we want more of the time.
i’ll start: on sunday i had a booking for 12 people for a pub lunch but when we got there the table was still in use by people who looked like they weren’t going anywhere or a while. the pub was full and the staff run off their feet and they didn’t seem to care that we were waiting around. so i took of my hat and went to speak to the manager in my bald state and said, softly, how i was on chemotherapy and was too tired to wait around for a table, was there anything they could do?
next minute they shuffled tables around and rearranged everything so me and my friends were happily seated and ordering our food.
I tried to get inside the Stonehenge circle - but they still wouldn’t let me even though I said I was starting chemotherapy and it was possibly my last chance to touch the stones.
I rang the Dr’s surgery this morning to book an app to get my flu jab. Receptionist said in a very snooty voice “oh your a bit late, I cant get you in untill late next week now” My reply was “no sorry, it has to be this week because I’m due to start chemo on monday” her reply “can you come in tomorrow morning at 9.30 ?”
I walked round John Lewis’ make up dept with no hair… to see if any of the highly made up ladies took pity on me. One did… did my face for me… offered me a booking for a facial a few weeks later, which normally cost £15, but she did me complimentary… POlish those brass necks girls!
A friend of mine whose sister had cancer (in Australia) saw a beret that she thought would be perfect in M&S… the only one they had was on the model, and they “couldn’t take it off”. Said friend is VERY unassertive and timid. She was so desperate for her sister, that she said very firmly “my sister has cancer, and you CAN”… they did!
great thread - there have to be some compensations to this wretched disease - and we should take them!
Nice one Jude, i haven’t really used it yet, but will be following thread for good ideas
I would have used it on Monday night after my daughter had thrown up 3 times, but there was nobody in to try it with!! Doh…
I have played it a number of times over the years… Sometimes cos I was so upset at the unfairness of everything and having cancer on top of what ever my issue was that I burst out crying and would say and iv got cancer…
But one day I got a call from virgin wanting me to upgrade to a more expensive pach but I managed to wangle a bigger package and lower payments thanks to the cancer card!
Fab thread! As we are amongst friends I feel I can confess…my eldest is applying for boarding schools for her 6th form, I wrote to the burser (unbeknown to daughter) casually mentioning my secondary cancer and how things were a bit tough, I got a letter back offering us 1,000 pounds per term off!!
Brass neck suitably polished…hope you all have a peaceful christmasxxx
Well, I have used the card so far to get my daughter an urgent doctors appointment when she had a bad cold last week. Normally you wouldn’t get past the receptionist with that, but I told her that I had just had chemo and was on my low immunity week so didn’t want to catch anything. Daughter had an appointment within the hour.
My next round if chemo is on Monday, so I’ll be shattered by the weekend after. Which means I can’t cook either Christmas or Boxing Bay. So family have been invited out on both days, yay! (OH can only do beans on toast and pasta or pizza).
These are bit tame, I know, but sure I can add more interesting ones in the future! :o)
Hi - Playing the ‘cancer card’ can sound quite negative as if we are taking advantage of a bad situation. However I do not see it this way! If something makes life easier for us - so we can do more cool stuff rather than horrid stuff - I am all for it!! The best example I have is getting a special pass for Disneyland Paris. I told them I can not stand for v long (true) and get v tired (true). I had medical reports to back me up! So, a pass to the front of every que! I felt a bit guilty the first time we went to the front - but then thought I would swop places with ANYONE in the que! The kids LOVED it and we got to do so much before I had to go and lie down in a darkened room!
There are also lots of Trust funds out there that can help with school fees. It is a L O N G process, but if anyone wants info, pls pm me. Happy to point you in the right direction.
I brought a new car last year (1st time ever) and have had nothing but trouble “Friday afternoon car” I was constantly taking it to the garage approx 15 miles away. Last week had issues with the lights and I played the cancer card saying I was too ill to drive in and wait around (partly true cos I have been ill) They are collecting and bringing the car back this Friday. Something positive for change!
Hello, there’s little old me feeling bad about getting an urgent nhs dental appointment prior to starting chemo - just incase anything needed doing. Usually there are no appointments for months, I explained the situationand they couldn’t have been more helpful !!
Love this thread and can’t wait to see other “cards”.
I have been considering whether to play my C card on this one, but you have helped me to make up my mind.
My son is at nursery at the school where I work, but it’s not his local so I had to complete a placing request. Now he is due to start primary school next year and I want him to continue at my one so will certainly put on my form that staff at school know his situation and mine well etc and it will be much less stressful and help me to keep strong at work if he is at the same school!
I think we deserve as much special treatment as we can get. Hell, look at what we are going through!
I played the cancer card when I was having my new curtains made. My bed room is freezing cold so when my chemo started my nan gave me money to buy some lovely thermal lined, black out curtains. At first I was told they couldn’t be delivered ing after Christmas but, hey presto, as soon as chemo was mentioned they delivered them within 3 weeks. I am so glad I mentioned it as they have really made a huge difference.
Mine will probably sound a bit lame; particularly after the School fees one. What a corker!
Firstly, before and due to my MX, I secured an appointment to see a secondary school, prior to the official open evening. I wouldn’t have been in a fit physical state to make the open evening anyway so feel totally OK about this. Hopefully it will also be remembered and, despite being out of catchment, one of my beautiful sons, whom I’m determined to turn into a soft, strong man, will get in. It is a state school, a very good one; although not grammar. Off on a mini-tangent now I’ve had a massive rethink about state versus public and I’ve finally decided what side of the fence I’m on; not that you care or even want to know, but these days I’m dishing it out like never before…
Secondly I’ve evaded library fees twice due to mislaying old Beryl Bainbridge. Poor dear got lost under piles of crap and by the time I discovered her she’d notched up a few pounds. Not really bad as our useless Government waste so much of our hard-earned cash, although pretty bad as I don’t want them to close libraries.
And, thirdly, the dustbin man offered to collect our bin nearer the house today when I played the cancer card. I told him he only had to do it until next June when I’d be back on form and be only too pleased to return to normal duties. He commented on my style and then told me his father had died of cancer when he was two. I was seriously on the verge of hugging him but he was a bit grubby.
I must up my game…
So far…I was going on our running club’s annual fell weekend. My chairman persuaded me to go to do a spot of gentle fell walking as it was on my good week. Normally we have to have dormatories so you can’t share a room with your OH. I said that as I have cancer, have no hair and one boob I didn’t really want to share with a bunch of people I didn’t know. He let me and my husband share a room the other couples were rather envious!
Oh and in Tesco I didn’t actually play the card but the lad behind the till started packing my bags without me asking. It was the day after my second chemo and I must have looked a right state!
I’m now fighting a battle with my travel insurance company as I had to cancel a trip to Oz. I have already played the cancer card with them and haven’t got a full refund so time to try Singapore Airlines!
I was coming home on the train from radiotherapy in February. Normally no problem getting a seat, but this day the train was full so I was going to have to stand for an hour. I didn’t think twice - whipped off my woolly hat to reveal my bald head and had a seat offered to me within seconds!
I just used mine just now…mind you it was cancer/Chemo bf rain that caused the problem in the first place!
Just before I had my op I opened online ISAs for the kids as they had both had policies mature… Completely forgot to send off the paperwork to confirm identity and address… Then a few weeks later I got a letter saying sons was closed and money refunded… Waited a while later expecting daughters to get closed too but hers didn’t… So phoned the new accts dept and the girl there said it was def closed and to open a new one… So I opened up a new one and sent money again and then today I got a letter saying you cannot open two ISAs in the same year… So even though the allowance is over 5000 and I had only put in 3000 which was returned I cannot open another for him to put the other 2000 in it… It just said the first one is closed and I cannot put funds in the second one… So I phoned up accounts again and the guy explained this all to me
And I just told him I had other things on my mind and forgot to send the ID and he said he would refer it to the ISA team but they had gone by their policy… And I said surely it was exceptional circumstances as I was having surgery and Chemo… Yay! 10 mins later he phoned back and said they would reopen it! Result! Now just need to send off the I’d paperwork this time!!
I havent used it yet but will if i need to. Im not sure about whipping my head out in public though eeeek thats brave of you all i dont even want to show my friends as pathetic as that is. Only my hubby and one nice work colleague has seen (shared a hotel room with her after christmas do so couldnt really avoid)
Something positive for change!
the other couples were rather envious!