Smoke 'em, if ya got 'em.
The sky was dusty and still tinged pink from the late sunrise as I drove west. My mother called to make sure I was awake and en route and asked if my father was with me. Of course not. The medical center was beige and looked like a hotel. I entered the lobby and found the number of the suite for the doctor whom I was to see. The receptionist was already cranky and made things difficult but soon I was waiting.
Nearly an hour passed and the room emptied out except for me. The former occupants had all been considerably older than me. The television flashed silent images and videos of newscasters and Michael Jackson. Finally a short, red-headed nurse who sported teal scrubs and an over abundance of freckles called me back. The exam room was completely white and a radio played from the wall. She turned it down to a whisper and then asked me what my concern was. As I explained the strange new bump, it's location, size, age, and anything else I could think of. She wrote it down on a piece of paper and then gave me a gown and told me the doctor would be in shortly.
I arranged myself on the exam table and sang along with the radio, feeling foolish but not really caring. The doctor's name was Greek so I tried to imagine what he might be like. In my mind he was old, his skin dark, his hair white, and his voice heavily accented. He entered the room (young, fair-skinned, with brown hair and no discernible accent) and asked me to show him what was wrong. I laughed self-consciously as I tried to find the bump without being able to see it from behind my gown. He hummed and used large medical words that his small Latina assistant jotted down as his gloved finger poked and prodded then explained the biopsy procedure. They left the room.
The first freckled nurse returned to the room with a syringe. The alcohol swab was cold and clinical against my most sensitive of skin; a sharp contrast to the burning that the medicine she injected caused. She left and then doctor and his assistant returned. I could see out of the corner of my eye the small tray containing several small metallic instruments. As the doctor set to work between my legs, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody came on the radio and I struggled not to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Thanks to the injection I could not feel anything except a pulling as the doctor worked but I could hear all too well the small snips of whatever he was using to cut away at me. When he was done, his assistant cleaned me up and told me the results would be available in two weeks. Even the receptionist seemed a little sad as she said goodbye to me. It started to rain as I walked to my car. I drove home soaked and wondered how I would let this affect me.
can·cer
Pronunciation:
\ˈkan(t)-sər\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Latin (genitive Cancri), literally, crab; akin to Greek karkinos crab, cancer
Date:
14th century
1 a: a northern zodiacal constellation between Gemini and Leo b (1): the fourth sign of the zodiac in astrology - see zodiac table (2): one born under the sign of Cancer2 [Latin, crab, cancer] a: a malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally by invasion and systemically by metastasis b: an abnormal bodily state marked by such tumors3: something evil or malignant that spreads destructively the cancer of hidden resentment - Irish Digest4 a: an enlarged tumorlike plant growth (as that of crown gall) b: a plant disease marked by such growths
- can·cer·ous Listen to the pronunciation of cancerous \ˈkan(t)s-rəs, ˈkan(t)-sə-\ adjective
- can·cer·ous·ly adverb
Nearly an hour passed and the room emptied out except for me. The former occupants had all been considerably older than me. The television flashed silent images and videos of newscasters and Michael Jackson. Finally a short, red-headed nurse who sported teal scrubs and an over abundance of freckles called me back. The exam room was completely white and a radio played from the wall. She turned it down to a whisper and then asked me what my concern was. As I explained the strange new bump, it's location, size, age, and anything else I could think of. She wrote it down on a piece of paper and then gave me a gown and told me the doctor would be in shortly.
I arranged myself on the exam table and sang along with the radio, feeling foolish but not really caring. The doctor's name was Greek so I tried to imagine what he might be like. In my mind he was old, his skin dark, his hair white, and his voice heavily accented. He entered the room (young, fair-skinned, with brown hair and no discernible accent) and asked me to show him what was wrong. I laughed self-consciously as I tried to find the bump without being able to see it from behind my gown. He hummed and used large medical words that his small Latina assistant jotted down as his gloved finger poked and prodded then explained the biopsy procedure. They left the room.
The first freckled nurse returned to the room with a syringe. The alcohol swab was cold and clinical against my most sensitive of skin; a sharp contrast to the burning that the medicine she injected caused. She left and then doctor and his assistant returned. I could see out of the corner of my eye the small tray containing several small metallic instruments. As the doctor set to work between my legs, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody came on the radio and I struggled not to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Thanks to the injection I could not feel anything except a pulling as the doctor worked but I could hear all too well the small snips of whatever he was using to cut away at me. When he was done, his assistant cleaned me up and told me the results would be available in two weeks. Even the receptionist seemed a little sad as she said goodbye to me. It started to rain as I walked to my car. I drove home soaked and wondered how I would let this affect me.
can·cer
Pronunciation:
\ˈkan(t)-sər\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Latin (genitive Cancri), literally, crab; akin to Greek karkinos crab, cancer
Date:
14th century
1 a: a northern zodiacal constellation between Gemini and Leo b (1): the fourth sign of the zodiac in astrology - see zodiac table (2): one born under the sign of Cancer2 [Latin, crab, cancer] a: a malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally by invasion and systemically by metastasis b: an abnormal bodily state marked by such tumors3: something evil or malignant that spreads destructively the cancer of hidden resentment - Irish Digest4 a: an enlarged tumorlike plant growth (as that of crown gall) b: a plant disease marked by such growths
- can·cer·ous Listen to the pronunciation of cancerous \ˈkan(t)s-rəs, ˈkan(t)-sə-\ adjective
- can·cer·ous·ly adverb