Right Now, I am in Pretty Good Shape

I once heard Len Doak say, "You have to be in pretty good shape to be sick." He was so right.

Not only do you have to feel pretty good in order to keep up with everything; you need a lot of time as well. Medicine is an art delivered on time schedule.

When I called the disability administrator this Monday, the intake nurse asked why I needed any time off before my surgery which is not until Thursday morning. I explained that I had spent the morning with one surgeon before rushing off for a second opinion, and then I had an MRI scheduled for 3 but needed to check- in at 2 and in addition, I had yet to have labs, pick up old records, have an EKG, have a guidewire placed before the surgery, make appointments for the oncologist and radiation oncologist, and pick up prescriptions. Oh, and I might spend some time getting used to the fact that I have cancer. "My office is not going to like me just coming in for lunch!", I told her. " She responded that they usually did not approve time off before a surgery.

Not all of the time is productive of course, there is time spent commuting to and from the various testing sites, consultations, treatments and pharmacies. Waiting room time is enormous. Coordination between the various points is... uncoordinated.

Even when you know what you want or need, someone thinks that he or she knows better. And when you are a patient, too few people listen to you.

Everyone in the waiting room wants to talk to you (or to me at least). I never mention that I am a nurse because no matter what is wrong with them, the stranger next to me will invariably say, " Oh, if you are a nurse you will then you will be interested in this." They then proceed to launch into a long drawn out story about their hemmorhoids (which I not only have no interest in but can't even spell), constipation or some other aspect of their disease process.

There is a slight advantage in having cancer though. If you need a bit of peace and quiet, you can just say rather bluntly, " I have cancer." It makes most people so uncomfortable that they let you get back to your murder mystery!