Intro-9. THE WAITING ROOMS

Cancer patients and their partners spend a lot of time waiting. MDA processes over a thousand people a day. There is plenty of staff, but just a lot of patients. Although the process is efficient and friendly, a test can take up to two hours at time, but most people are used to this and so are patients. Some get tired and take a short nap, some read a newspaper or book, listen to music on earphones, and then some just talk. Some are required to sip on a barium drink (in preparation for a scan), flavored as strawberry-banana, cherry, you name it. Some are very slow at finishing the drink, hating every sip. Others have developed the ability to push it down quickly to "get it over with." People love to show their hatred of this, though the nurses are serious about this and not afraid to encourage people to “drink it all.”
The conversations are often free, open and loud, which shows how open and trusting that the patients have become over time. Many talk about their past or up-coming surgeries. Surprisingly, some of the surgeries involve benign tumors but located in dangerous areas. The talk even covers cancer surgeries involving deaths of husbands and parents.
One time I was intrigued by a woman who was very thin, walked with a cane, and slept most of the time (perhaps dealing with chemo). She sat with her husband but with her eyes closed. After 45 minutes of rest, she got up and began to argue with a nurse saying that she decided she did not want a certain treatment. Her husband stood on the side and observed with a feeling of concern. The nurse told him that such a decision was up to her. After some loud verbal exchanges the patient and her husband sat down. Ten minutes later a document was given to the woman for signing. She signed it and then later moved on to her planned scan or treatment.