To get to the hospital, I usually ride with Sara to the city and stay at my sister's apartment, which is just a few blocks from the hospital, but she was unavailable, so I took the Metra train which is about a mile from my apartment. Side note: yesterday was a nice sunny day for walking, but damn I'm out of shape! I thought I was going to die when I finally reached the station. Once on the train, I was able to relax.
The plan was I would take the train to the city, and I would hang out there for an hour before Sara left work early to pick me up from the station and drive us to the hospital. Ogilvie is a huge station with a nice food court for me to just sit and relax. So that's what I did. I bought a bottled soda, and a snack to hold me over until after the appointment when Sara and I would have time to eat a late lunch.
Once I had my snack and soda in my hand I found a two seat table where I could just play on my phone for an hour while I waited for Sara to pick me up.
The station was very busy, so I wasn't surprised when a police officer sat at my table during his break to eat his lunch. I mostly ignored him because, to be frank, I was a little uncomfortable sitting with a stranger, but I guess that's the way things are done down there.
Once he was done eating, we started talking. And let me tell you, Mike the police officer really likes to talk! So that's what we did. Mike talked about his day, what it's like to be a police officer (his duties at the station), and just life in general.
Of course, we stumbled into the topic as to why I was visiting Chicago yesterday. I told him a very watered down version as to why I was there, and that I have epilepsy, and was there to see the doctor. I told him about my seizures a bit, and then we got on the topic of Sara picking me up from the station to take me to the hospital, so we could be in the appointment together.
Mike gave me a lot of good advice. He was an older police officer with a lot of advice to offer. He reminded me of my dad, who is a retired cop. We started talking about Sara, and he looked at me as seriously as a cop could look at someone and said, "you know she loves you very much." I agreed.
Mike has seen a seizure before and said it was one of the scariest things he's seen as a cop, (that's saying a lot!), and that for Sara to have stuck by my side, fighting epilepsy, was a true test of her love for me. Again, I agreed and told him that, although I've never seen a seizure, I've been told that they are very scary. He even knew what an aura, (seizure warning), was. Pretty amazing, if you ask me.
He gave me some instructions for when Sara picked me up at the train station. He said that when I get in the car, I should look at her, tell her how much she means to me, and to give her a kiss on the cheek. He said it's not about getting the chores done, (how did he know that I was struggling with that?!), or how much money I make, etc., it's just about letting her know that I appreciate her and love her the same way she loves me.
So that's what I did. Once in the car on our way to the hospital, I told her about my encounter with Mike, and once we reached the hospital and got out of the car, I kissed Sara in the cheek and told her how much she means to me.
This post is basically to thank Mike the police officer, and reiterate to Sara that she means the world to me and I wouldn't have the strength to fight epilepsy, and all the shit that comes attached to my seizures without her.
So, thanks to Mike, and most importantly, thanks to Sara for taking a half day of work off so she could fight traffic to pick me up from the train station, then sit in another doctors appointment.
I love you, Sara, and I'd probably be living under a bridge somewhere without you!
The rest of the day went good, I was in a great mood, we ate a good lunch in the city, and headed home. I'm only up so early to write this because as soon as I left the train station, I was itching to write about my experience with Mike.
What a great day.
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