I hope it is not Cancer

She ran into the waiting room and approached the window. The receptionist acknowledged her presence but reverted back to the screen in front of her.

“Excuse me. It is urgent,” she said.

“How can I help you? Your name? What time is your appointment?”  the receptionist asked.

“It’s my husband. He doesn’t have an appointment. But the doctor called and asked us to come in today. He was seen about two weeks ago. The Doctor had ordered blood tests and scans. He called me yesterday and asked us to come in today.

“Where is your husband?” The receptionist looked around the waiting room.

“He is in the car. My brother is parking and will escort him in a few minutes.”

“Please have a seat. Doctor’s appointment calendar is full but let me speak to him and see what can be done. When your husband comes in, I will register him and then bring him in to be examined.”

“No. No. I need to speak the doctor before my husband comes in; before he is seen by the doctor. Can you please ask the doctor to let me see him for a minute?”

“Please have a seat.”

The woman could not make herself sit down. Anxiously she kept looking back at the door hoping that her husband will be delayed.

“Okay. Let me see if the doctor is available”, the receptionist said.

She had first accompanied her husband to the doctor’s office two week ago. He had not been well for many months. He was feeling increasingly lethargic. He was not eating well but despite of that, he had gained weight. His stomach was swollen, and his eyes looked the color of sunflowers. The doctor had taken one look at her husband and ordered tests suspecting something serious.

When he called the day before, she was devastated but not surprised in hearing that that the tests results were not good –possibly cancer that had spread to his liver.  He had said that further tests will be needed to confirm the diagnosis before a plan of care could be established. He had also said that if it turned out to be cancer, chemotherapy could slow it but I won’t  be curable since it seemed too advanced.

Now, as she waited, she kept looking at the entrance, hoping that her husband would not show up in the waiting room. At last the receptionist came and escorted her to the doctor’s consultation room.

“Please don’t tell him anything” she said to the doctor.

“I can’t lie to the patient. He has a right to know what is wrong with him.” The doctor said.

“But I don’t want him to know. He won’t be able to handle it. Besides, I believe that with good nutrition, some fresh air and vitamins, he will get better. I don’t believe in chemotherapy anyhow. I don’t want him to know that he may have cancer. I have told my husband that he is not well because he has been exposed to bad weather. I have decided to take him to Florida. Actually, we have decided to sell our home and relocate to Florida.”

“But your family and your support structures are all here. Do you have family in Florida?”

“No. But we will be okay. We will find friends. We will make new friends.”

“I can’t lie to the patient. I have to tell him the results of the tests and what I suspect is going on. Besides, your husband like any adult, has the right to know. How can he make decision about his future care without knowing what is wrong and what can and cannot be done?

I strongly suspect that it is cancer. But, we need to confirm the diagnosis. If I not honest with him, then I cannot justify to him the reason why he has to undergo a biopsy or other tests.

You know that early stage cancers can be cured? That may not apply to your husband’s case. But if doctors do not discuss the diagnosis and treatment options with the patients, then many people with early cancer will go untreated.

“But, even the possibility of this being cancer will have a devastating effect on my husband. I know him.

I beg you. Please don’t tell him that he may have advanced cancer.”

“I do not lie to my patients. That is unethical.”

As they stood facing one another, he could see the grief in her eyes. Tears were pouring down her cheeks.  She pleaded with him again. Please don’t.

“How about this?” The doctor had a twinkle in his eyes.

“If he does not ask, I won’t tell him. I will not say that it may be cancer unless he wants to know. Will that work for you?”

She let out a sigh of relief. She reached out and took both his hands in her’s. She ran back to the waiting room and looked at the vacant seats. Her husband has yet not walked in.