March 5, 2005

She Didn't Come Home

The results of the biopsy came out today. I knew the most important part when I took the call from Dr. Z's office at home. They asked for her, and I explained that she was at work. I gave the assistant her number at work and her cell phone number as well. She had insisted on going to work because she said that would keep her mind off the subject of cancer. Yeah, right. I knew that Dr. Z ran the Women's Breast Cancer Center, and if his office was calling to schedule an appointment for her, the news would not be all that great. I was right.

I considered calling her myself to break the news, but I really knew nothing for certain. Better to let her hear it from the doctor so she could get answers to the questions that I knew would be coming. I didn't know that the doctor had already phoned her earlier that morning to say that the tumor was Grade III and invasive.

She didn't come home until quite late, and admitted that she had stayed late at work because she wanted to avoid the unwelcome task of telling us for as long as possible. I said that I already knew the news was bad. We hugged.

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