The Waiting Room

How many times have I sat in waiting rooms in hospitals? I feel like an expert and like I really need to teach a class on "How to Wait".

MD Anderson has the most interesting waiting rooms of all. I've been in many of them. Lymphoma, Leukemia, Gastrointestinal (with my friend Luisa), CT Imaging, Radiology, Children's Cancer Hospital... I could go on and on. I've been all over the institution waiting.

This morning, I'm in the waiting area on the 7th floor of the Mays Clinic, the Genitourinary Center (affectionately known as the GU center so I've decided that I'm gonna start calling it the "GU"). I am pretty sure I'm the youngest person in this room.

Waiting rooms are filled with people who are waiting. Obvious, I know. But waiting is the hardest part. Waiting for procedures. Waiting for results. Waiting for appointments. Waiting for decisions. Waiting for time to pass so you're no longer in the darkness of cancer, but have come out on the other side alive and well and finished (I hope).

My heart hurts for the people in the waiting room. They are here for only one reason: cancer. Whether you're the patient, the friend, the spouse, the child, cancer is tough for everyone. May God help the people in the waiting room today.