Last week was one of those weeks when Sara was involved again and again in giving bad news to patients. Several new people had come in for consultations in her clinic, and they had no hope to offer. I guess it's just one of those statistical things -- during some periods of time, it seems that everyone that comes looking for help is someone you can't help. Of course, that is balanced by those periods when people come in who have been given no hope by others, and other eyes and experience are able to offer hope, even healing. That's just the reality of working in a cancer center.
Weeks like this last one are hard on Sara. Giving people bad news can never be easy. Many of us would find it impossible to do on a regular basis. But it occurs to me that it's the price for being able to deliver incredibly good news to someone who's been told there is no hope, which Sara also gets to do. Those of us who don't know the depths of having to deliver bad news can't know the heights of being able to deliver amazingly good news.
For Sara and her colleagues, I hope that this is a week where the statistics play catch up, and that the news they have to deliver is good.
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