Amy's 'momentary trouble'

If you're a 'people watcher', there's no place for you like a busy hospital. I'm sitting in the only public computer kiosk area (that I know of) in the hospital, which is one floor below and about three areas over from where Amy is waiting to have her CT Scan done. As I look around, I see a group of people gathered around a table playing cards and at another, a family is putting a puzzle together. I see men & women, young & old, students, doctors & patients. A mixed group of ethnicities, languages and body shapes. One sleeping girl, in an uncomfortable position, tries to reposition herself to alleviate her obvious sore neck. An older woman quietly knits while a relative chats idly on. A group of people (family & relatives) comfort each other as they absorb the unsettling news a doctor has just delivered to them. Pain, relief, worry, exaltation, anxiousness & exhaustion. All are here, mixed together, all at the same time.

In between having her blood work and when she had to drink some concoction for the CT Scan, we had a free hour to ourselves, so we wandered down to the cafeteria where I had a salad & soup. While I was having my lunch (Amy can't eat until after her CT Scan), Amy's radiological oncologist happened to walk by. We chatted amiably and he asked how she was doing and she told him that she was doing fine, except that her original pain had returned. He nodded his head and indicating a spot just below his rib cage and about mid-line across his body and said 'Here?' to which she replied 'Yes.' He went on to say that it isn't uncommon for this to occur, that the medical profession isn't sure why it happens, just that it does and it really doesn't indicate anything one way or the other. That was nice to know. He also said that he feels very confident that the treatments were effective and that the surgeon will press to move forward with the surgery. That too was nice to hear!

This is Amy's story as seen and told by me - V