Sitting for Two Hours
by a family member
It was the second to last day of my husband's radiation therapy at the end of a two-month course of weekly chemo and twice daily radiation. The radiation therapist asked my husband if he'd like the earliest appointment the next day so he could get done with treatment right away in the morning. He happily took the 7 a.m. appointment.
The next day when my husband’s radiation was complete at about 7:10 a.m., I said I was going to take him home and put him to bed. He was weak, tired, and sick. The radiation therapist said, "You can't leave, you have to be seen in the clinic to get discharged." This is the first we heard of a discharge visit. We didn't have an appointment in the clinic. The clinic didn't open until 9 a.m.
There we sat in hard waiting room chairs for two hours to get discharged. I was really very angry. I will never understand why we were invited to come in early, just to sit for two hours. I have asked myself this a hundred times. 