A Long Story-Part 3

Several hours later, I got a call from my mother’s gynecologist. He had left the operating room but the surgery was still going on. The oncologists were still at work.

Dr. Brucks explained that things did not look good. Cancer was found on the uterus, ovaries, bladder, and stomach lining. She had a long road. There was most certainly chemo and radiation in her near future. I asked him how much longer the surgery would take. He did not know. I asked, “How will she know that she has cancer?” He told me not to tell her anything when she got out of surgery but that he or his partner would come to her in the morning and explain what they had found. I was left clouded not knowing who to call or what to do. There were no tears, yet. This was the beginning of a journey, not the end. I called my pregnant sister in Atlanta who immediately made arrangements to come to Dallas that night. Then, in a haze, went to the waiting room to tell the others.

The surgery seemed to last forever. I kept asking the nurse at the desk in the waiting room when she would be done. I got very little help. Around 6 p.m., a nurse called to say that the surgery was over and they were taking her to recovery. We were not allowed to see her yet. We had to wait until she got to her room. (We were left to continue waiting in the now empty, cold, stark white waiting area because a room in the women’s center had not yet been assigned.)

The oncologist came to talk to me after the surgery. I had gone to the cafeteria to get a soda so when he called my name, I was not there. My grandfather and uncle went to the little consultation room with the doctor. When I arrived back in the waiting area to find that the doctor had come, I was furious. I had been sitting there for hours. How dare he talk to anyone but me!

I knocked on every consultation door looking for them. I had been the one with her. I had been the one waiting all these hours. I was going to see that doctor and talk with him face-to-face. Unfortunately, he was pretty much done with his explanation by the time I found him. He was not willing to go over it again and told me that my grandfather and uncle could fill me in. Turns out, it didn’t matter. He didn’t know enough without pathology reports to give us specifics.

There is still more...