I'll call her Gertrude

After lunch on Monday we arrived back at the waiting room.  All around us were fellow cancer patients and their support systems.  My mom and I joked about how everyone was probably thinking Matt and I were there to support her, not the other way around.  Every other patient had at least 10 years on me.  I later was informed the median age of breast cancer patients is 66, exactly double my age.  I'm still trying to figure out if them informing me of this was supposed to make me feel better or worse.  The jury is still out on that one.

After about 5 minutes a character came out with a strip of paper, looking at the paper she called out, "Megan Anderson?"  My mom, Matt, and I stood up and followed the woman.  She rounded the corner, turned around and asked, "What's your name?"  "Uh, Megan Anderson," I said while wondering to myself if it was a common occurrence for strangers off of the street to show up impersonating cancer patients on the cancer floor with their mom and boyfriend.  Seriously, you just called my name, you saw us stand up and follow you.

In silence, the woman lead us to a room at the end of the hall, sat down at the computer and stared at it for several minutes.  The three of us looked at each other in disbelief/curiosity; I tried not to laugh.  This woman was maybe 70 years old, her face covered in thick makeup.  Brightly colored lipstick had balled up and collected in each corner of her mouth.  Still looking at the computer she asked what time my appointment was.  Not sure if this was a trick question, I answered a roundabout version of this: my original appointment was for 11am, but we were asked to arrive early (10:15am), and our post Tumor Board callback time was 2:30pm.  More silence.  More staring at the computer.

"Gertrude" got up from her chair and halfway out the door said she'd be right back.  About 5 minutes went by.  The door opened, "Gertrude" popped her head in, and handed me a robe.  "Put this on. The doctor will be with you shortly," she said.  Then she vanished and we waited for another 30 minutes, easy, before Dr. Peterson came back.