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Another Day of Waiting … And Empathy

May 2, 2017CoachVickyLeave a comment

Richard has the patience of a saint.  It takes that depth of patience to tolerate all the falderal around cancer treatments without getting upset.

Take yesterday for example.  He waits while I get my labs.  He waits while the assistant takes my vitals.  We wait for an exam room.  We wait to see the Oncologist.

We get to the treatment room and we wait for 30 minutes for the Benadryl and Tylenol to take effect.  We wait for the Herceptin drug to drip slowly through my port and into my body to kill any HER2 genes that try to mutate to cancer.

I would imagine that in the last eleven months he has accumulated numerous days of waiting.  We learned to make the best use possible of this wait time.  We have hand-held devices to check mail, write, and work on proposals as well as folders with work to review.  Still there is a lot of waiting.

Richard prays every day and throughout the day.  He prays while he waits.

Then there are the distractions while waiting.  Yesterday at treatment there was a woman having her first treatment.  She chose not to use the curtain to enclose her area.

You always know when it is a “newbie” by the depth of interaction with the Nurses.  The Nurses explain the protocols.  As each IV bag is emptied and replaced with another bag, they share the contents and purposes.  They state what you may taste or feel while flushing your port.  We probably have the words memorized because we have heard them so often.

Newbie was loud.  We could hear every word of her conversation she had with her Caregiver.  I know she does not like the President, which family member is the control freak that teaches ESL, and, although she denies it, she is scared about returning to treatment alone.

Most treatments are quite and patients tend to respect each other’s privacy. Monday was unusual.  Richard kept busy while waiting and he was the one that said, “She must be so scared.”

At a time when I would like to shout across the treatment room “shut up woman,” Richard finds empathy for another human being whose behavior gives off her fears of the unknown.   He reminds me through his empathy that once I was in a treatment chair unknowing what lay ahead, scared, and a “newbie”.

Leaders …  How do you show patience, empathy, and understanding to your followers when they are scared or facing the unknown?

-VhS