Woot

To my fellow drivers on 93 north this morning- thank you for making my hour and 15 minute commute into my oncology appointment enjoyable.

Special shout out to the guy driving with the German Shepard on his lap and the foot of snow on the roof of his car, to the gentleman picking food out of his mustache, to the 30 drivers texting but mostly to the poor couple next to me the entire ride...I imagine the husband was cursing out the wife (or perhaps vice verse) as they could have been surpassing me by miles if they didn’t miss the HOV exit.

Knowing I certainly would be late for my 6 month follow up- (and how if I’m not 10 minutes early - in my mind- I’m late) I dutifully call ahead.

We have an amazing hospital in Boston and am forever grateful to my medical team but to get through to an actual human at the cancer center is almost comical.

7 minutes and 22 seconds later a woman who clearly hates her job finally answered.
I tell her I’m stuck in traffic and just want the office to know I’ll be late.
(I should preface that when you call the cancer center you never ever reach the drs office. Im pretty sure these people are held in a basement somewhere trafficking phone calls and then forwarding them appropriately)

Ok- hold on- she tells me (not putting me on hold)
So how late will you be?
You see, that’s the thing dear woman who hates her job, the funny thing about traffic is you just don’t know how late you will be. Because, you know, it's traffic.

Ok- "so you don’t have a medical number?" She asks me.

I’m sorry. Did I miss a question of you asking if I actually had a medical number?
Because I do.
You need one to actually be seen at said hospital.
Hence me being a patient who will be late.

Once she finds me, and names the wrong Dr that I’m seeing, she says "ok so you want to reschedule then?"

No! I scream sitting in traffic. Don’t you dare cancel that appointment.

Comedy of errors I finally pull in 20 minutes late and as I check in I look up at the board which states

“Dr E running 23 minutes late”

How about that? I’m on time!

The waiting room was crowded and as I waited for my blood pressure to come down I look to the right of me.

In a wheelchair is a young woman, accompanied by; who I assume, is her mother. Young woman wears the coveted cancer scarf, her shirt is low enough so her port shows through, she is pale and motionless.

I do the obligatory warm smile and remind myself of why I’m here.

That I’m grateful to be 23 minutes late to my oncology six month follow up.

Cancer center got new robes so that was an added bonus.
No longer am I trying to keep the paper johnnie closed across the real and the fake.
Oversized pin striped robe now ties beautifully as I sit and wait to be seen.

As good of a place as I am in, the anxiety starts to heighten.
The smell of the office, the clicking of the clock, the paper on the exam table... memories of another time.

The time where, I also wore the cancer scarf and was tired and motionless.

I try not to let myself go there.
It’s a new year and I have vowed to change my ways as I try to shoo away negative Nellie.
I also am waiting for doc to tell me that the abundance of lumps I feel near my rib are all the joys of some kind of side effect.

Because you know- lumps on your body are not exactly mind soothing.

The appointment was quick. The normal follow up appointments were made (bone density because damn cancer drugs can cause bone loss)
and let's hear a woot woot...follow up with oncology is now once a year.
(Which of course means I only need to make this freakin commute once every 365 days) (other than the MRI and Mammograms)

So.
Woot Woot!

For those on the edge of your seat wondering about the lumps-do not fret
apparently a side effect from radiation.
Because as you know
Cancer is the gift that keeps on giving.