Your Happily Ever After Is Always Near

Just today, I moved to Pulmonary Outpatient Clinic rotation. On the first day of my rotation, I saw heartbreaking scene. A grandparents couple came to my senior for consultation. They brought up the husband's thorax CT scan result. After seeing the film, facial expression of my senior changed. I knew this wouldn't be a good news. She walked over my supervisor, having serious conversation. Then I heard my supervisor said, "This is positively tumor."

My supervisor invited the patient, only the husband, to sit down in front of her, in a private place. Then she started talking, eye to eye with him.

"I'm sorry sir, there is certainly a mass in your lung," she took a deep breath, "a tumor, in your left lung."

This must be hard, for both patient and doctor. Delivering bad news has never been easy.

"But we need to take further tests to decide this is a cancer or not."

The patient didn't say anything. He must be shocked, I guessed. He stayed calm, but I saw his hands were shaking. Finished receiving enough explanation, he walked over to his wife. He smiled to her, "It's okay."

Most lung cancer does not cause symptom until they have spread or have developed into terminal stage. High mortality, poor prognosis. Honestly, I'm more curious on how this grandfather tell his wife about his newly diagnosed disease, how he will spend the remaining time he has. Most of all, is he strong enough to face the fact that he has to coping with cancer in everyday, from now on?

This must be extremely difficult. Might be, this time is his biggest breakdown of all time. 

The deepest pitfall that you might think you aren't able to get up again, it's the end of everything.

***

Few days ago, I read a beautiful line from my senior high school friend, Lentya. 

As she said, "In a glimpse of dream, hope, and expectation.. We will always meet our breakdown. So just hung in there. Tho it's hurt and tiring, but I believe there will be time for everything, include happiness. And even an ever after."

This reminds me what I've been believing, that wherever point you are, your happily ever after is always near. The distance between depends on how hard you create your magic and your trust in perfect timing. :)