Living with Cancer - A Solitary Journey

I walk into the lobby of the Cancer Center.

The furnishing plush and so inviting.

Several dozen people occupy the chairs and sofas scattered about…

In the corner an elderly lady plays a classic piece on a donated Grand Piano…Chopin, I believe.

I look at the faces of those around me and see such a sadness in their eyes.

I think and I ponder, is this the same look which is in mine?

An old woman with no hair shuffles to a table in the middle of the room and starts putting together the pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle.

An old man sleeps in the corner, I wonder what he dreams?

Does he dream of better days when he was young and strong?

Or does he have visions of someday tomorrow with the promise of a celestial home?

The doors to the treatment room slowly open and another name is called.

It’s not mine, not this time but I know it will be very soon.

Everyday this is the scene I see as I prepare to enter into the ‘Chamber of Hope’ for some, yet others its only a delay of impending doom.

The door opens again,  this time my name is called.

I arise and like a trained little dog, I follow the nurse into the ‘Chamber of Hope/ Doom’.

Thirty minutes later I dress and leave the room.

I exit through the same door I entered only to return all too soon.

I look around one more time and see the same faces that tomorrow I shall see.

Though surrounded by many, this journey is still a solitaire journey for me.

J. Allen Wilson © 9/21/2011