Escape: Five Minute Friday

After a busy week celebrating my oldest daughter’s eleventh birthday I am joining my writing companions for a weekly link-up on Five Minute Friday. Today we are using the prompt Escape to unite our ideas. Check out my post below:

From the moment the automatic doors slid open I knew I didn’t belong. The weight of the air in the Cancer Center lobby added ten pounds of gravity to my body. My legs that were strong moments before felt as though I’d strapped a bag of sand around each ankle. As I crossed the threshold I grabbed my husband’s arm as I tried to remind myself why I was checking in amongst these frail patients.

After giving birth six weeks ago I was sent to a hematologist to create a treatment plan based on a blood disorder. My new doctor studied both benign hematology and oncology and practiced at a Cancer Center near the airport. My diagnosis is not cancer nor does it resemble cancer so from the date the appointment was scheduled by the MFM after delivery, I began to dread this appointment. I knew that my presence in this practice would be off-kilter.

The first person I met when I walked into the center was a tall man with a loud voice. He spoke openly about the Good Lord and His strength to help the weak to anyone who would listen. His words, “We all gonna need His strength coz we don’t know what they gonna do to us here,” really resonated with me.

The reality of the diagnoses represented by the other bodies in the room was front and center. There were elderly patients in wheelchairs, caregivers who spoke on behalf of patients too ill to communicate, there were sons and daughters escorting parents to treatments. And yet there I stood amongst the terminally ill. I willed my body to walk right out the door and to escape this scene as my heart took on the weight that had been upon my legs.

Today was a lesson in gratitude. Yes, I’ve had a fair share of health trials over the last year, but my body is still working for me and not against me. Yes, I’ve had to add many medications that have dictated my daily routines, but my life has hardly been touched compared to those surrounding me. Yes, I’ve had to meet with many specialists to create a treatment plan, but my prognosis is great and over time I will likely be able to thrive without medications.

People in my life have been touched by cancer. Some of them have won their battle while others fought til the very end. Seeing so many patients up close was a difficult scene to process, but like the man in the lobby many wore smiles like capes as they returned to a center that had likely become a second home throughout their treatments. Although I wanted to escape the entire time I was in the office, I was also touched by the humility and hope that I saw in both the staff and patients today.

The Ameri Brit Mom