Keeping his head above water

This is Johnny. 
We had a nice chat. He asked me for my email address as he had taken photographs of me diving from the high wall (high tide = high wall). 
I didn't have a pen on me - or paper. But he had a hospital appointment card to write on. I recognised the logo immediately. 
He is an outpatient of the Repair Factory. 
He told me that he had serious bowel problems a few years back but this time there is something wrong with his oesophagus. He is doing chemo sessions in the Repair Factory. 
I told him that's where I work. He looked at me twice. My throwing myself off the pier at 1pm a good 15 km away from the Repair Factory must have thrown him. I did explain that I work from home most Wednesdays. 
He asked which building I worked in and when I asked him if he knew where the PET CT department is located he acquiesced. That's where they found his oesophageal cancer. That's where he could get the fastest PET CT public appointment. That the few weeks he had saved by getting a faster appointment at the Repair Factory were a serious boost to his prognosis. 
I told him that I bought that machine four years ago. Not with my own money, my name isn't Chuck Feaney (I wish!) but with the tax payers' money (so a little bit of my own after all).   
I remember reading through all the documentation for the various options. Analogue versus digital. Like big complex cameras really. We just about managed to get one of the new digital machines in. After negotiating a little budget top up from the HSE. The image quality is slightly better than with the already very good analogue machines. The major difference with the digital machine is the speed at which it processes data. You can scan about 40% more patients a day. 
It all seemed well and good in a glossy brochure. 
It all made so much more sense having a chat with Johnny today. 
I am glad our scanner had extra capacity to get him an appointment a good bit earlier than in his catchment area. 
He talked candidly about the chemo and how hard it is on the hard days. When food is totally unappealing and he has no energy for anything.
He was delighted he was able to make it to the end of the pier today. That today was a good day. I wish him the very best on this tough journey ahead. 

Later I spoke with Ottawacker on SkoomTeamsMeet. 
His hair is no longer orange. Which was a major disappointment.