I’ve decided to start a new feature at Ultra Sounds.  Drum roll please….. Tuesdays from the Chemo Unit.

Every Tuesday I get to spend time at the chemo unit and I thought I would undertake some firsthand reporting of my experiences. This is a place full of excitement and interesting people. In fact, I was thinking that the waiting room of the chemo unit could make for a great television show – “chemo”. I can just see the cast of humorous characters that could populate the show. The wise-cracking bald woman, the elderly man with the cane who can’t speak English, but makes lots of funny jokes with his eyes, the woman who comes with her three grown children, her husband and her cousin Irving because she needs the support.

Or maybe it could be some kind of survivor reality tv show – if you get voted out of the waiting room, you have to wait longer for your chemo.

So here I am today, buzzer in hand waiting for “my moment” when I will be called in. What colour ward will I be assigned today? Purple? Orange? The staff seems to rotate through the different wards, so there are no guarantees on who I might get. Will it be the guy who shuffles through his work in the slowest possible way? He’s the one that takes three trips when one will do and likes to use lots of tape and bandages to make my line secure for the three second injection. Or will I get Manny or Giselle, two of my favorites, who get in me in and out in record time. They are poetry in motion – friendly and warm, but totally efficient in their actions. Will I get someone who insists on warming up my arm with the heating pad? (Snore) Or will I get someone who gives me a quick tap and says “Good veins” and sticks the needle in. Oh, the suspense…

Ah, the buzzer is telling me that my time has come. Until the next time…..

Sam