12:15 AM, Friday night, in a taxi
Taxi Driver: Are you coming home from work right now?
Steph: No, I was at a party.
TD: Oh.
S: I’m actually not working right now.
TD: Oh. What did you study in school?
S: English. Not very useful. Do you like your job?
TD: Nope.
S: Oh, that’s too bad. What would you rather be doing?
TD: I used to do something with pharmaceuticals. My old company X is being bought by company Y.
S: Oh yah, I know those companies.
TD: Really?
S: Sure. I’ve taken my share of pharmaceuticals.
TD: You take pharmaceuticals?
S: Not as many now, but a bunch in the past.
TD: Oh, what were you taking them for?
S: Cancer.
TD: WHAT?! Cancer?! Oh my goodness. You are so young!
S: Yepper.
TD: Sorry for asking you about this.
S: It’s fine, I talk about it all the time.
TD: What kind of cancer?
S: Breast cancer.
TD: WHAT?! Breast cancer!!! NO! WHAT?!
The taxi driver turns on his interior light and spins around in his seat to get a better look at the young cancer patient.
TD: Oh my goodness. You are so young! Wow. Wow. Wow.
S: It’s okay. I’m doing fine.
Steph marvels at the fact that she now has to calm down a taxi driver about her having cancer.
TD: So is there some kind of genetic thing?
S: Not that they know of. But my dad had breast cancer, so probably.
TD: Wait, WHAT?! Your dad? You mean he had prostate cancer?
S: No. Breast cancer. Male breast cancer. It’s rare, but it happens.
TD: Oh my goodness. Wow. I can’t believe this. Wow.
S: Yepper. That’s why I have this short hairdo.
Taxi driver spins around in his seat again… while driving.
TD: You had the chemo?!
S: Yep.
TD: Oh my. Gosh. So what are you taking now?
S: Tamoxifen.
TD: Oh, Tamoxifen. Okay. Did they give you antioxidants?
S: Uh, no.
TD: Okay. You have to eat berries. Lots of berries.
S: I eat berries every day.
TD: Good. Doesn’t matter what kind of berry. Black, blue, strawberry. Every day. You have to.
S: Sure.
TD: And tomatoes! Are you eating your tomatoes?
S: Yep. I eat a ton of tomatoes.
TD: But not raw. You have to grill them on the barbecue.
S: Sure thing.
TD: And you have to make sure you eat the seeds inside the tomato. That’s the important part. Every day, you need to eat the seeds.
S: Uh huh.
TD: And the other thing is bananas with milk. Our bodies are full of electricity. Like when you rub a comb on your hair and it stands up.
S: Static electricity.
TD: Yes! That’s it. We’re all just electricity. So you have to eat the bananas in the milk. Not so many bananas every day. But just one banana with the milk.
S: I eat a lot of bananas so I think I’m good.
TD: Just do all these things and you’ll be fine, I promise. It’s really just about a lifestyle change.
S: Okay, yep, sure, thanks.
The taxi pulls up in front of the house.
TD: I wish you the best of luck.
S: Thank you! I appreciate it.
TD: And I hope to see you soon. Do the things I said and then you’ll see me again and tell me I was right.
S: Sure! Have a good night! BYE!
pass me another cupcake 
oh my god. half laughing half gawking at this post…
Funny how people who’ve just met you can have a list of suggestions 100x that of the specialist whose been working with you for months. Anything to fill the silence of difficult moments! Frantic solutions ≠ compassion, but I guess it’s hard to register this until your on the receiving end of the never-ending advice.
Oh well, off to eat some bananas.
Thanks for continuing to write Steph!
In the last taxi ride I had, I thought I was going to die. Literally. He was going like 90 mph and weaving erratically and wouldn’t slow down when we screamed for him to. I thought we were safe when we got to regular streets, but then he tried to veer around a car turning left on *the left* side. I still tipped him because I’m a pansy.
But yes, just keep doing all the things you were already doing that he told you to do and you’ll be fine!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE your posts ! I look forward to reading them. How sweet of the taxi driver ! We are ALL connected ! And …I’m happy to hear about bananas…I too have them everyday…but they are so controversial ! 🙂
Don’t you wish it was as eating berries to keep the cancer away?!? Bless that little taxi driver’s heart! Great post! Michele
Please excuse any typos, sent from my iPad.
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Steph! This is the best!!:) I get the same reaction all the time. I’ve had discussions about my cancer with ppl on the subway. I looove how he gives you a list of things you need to be eating haha.
Thanks for sharing!
I know! At first I thought it was just a nice and innocent conversation, but then when he started giving me all his “tips”, I was like, alright, here we go again…
Hahaha I know right! I couldn’t stop laughing at the eat lot of berries. hahah… I ate tons of berries pre-cancer.
So funny!!
I had DCIS but never had a taxi talk about it
However I am legally blind
I work at the school for children who ate blind or visually impaired and have had some good taxi talks coming home from work
Because I don’t use a white cane and they don’t see me read print they assume I can see n normally I get wow how do those blind people do things? Can you emagine what it is like? And so on and so on
Some days I just say yes they are capable of doing it all I teach many tricks to get things done if you have little or no sight
People think they know who’s in their car, but only if they knew hey 🙂
Sent from my iPhone
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Love it!