ambivalent | hes

8

My alarm buzzed, signaling that it was 6 a.m. An hour from now, I had a doctors appointment.

I went through my average morning routine and finished with 20 minutes to spare. Then I began the short walk to the small doctors office.

After my arrival, I checked in and a short, blonde nurse who seemed to be in her early twenties led me to a room where my doctor had been waiting patiently.

Dr. Santiago welcomed me as I sat on the long, padded table with white paper marking it's length. He went through with the ramble of questions that occurred every visit, always being answered with the same, cliché response.

"Have you taken your pills everyday since your last visit?"

"Yes." I answered as he checked something off on the clipboard.

"Have you been having any difficulty breathing?"

"No."

The questions continued. He then proceeded to check my heart beat. He inserted the earpiece of the stethoscope into his ears, then pressed the chest piece above my heart. Keeping time on his watch, he counted the beats.

"Your heart beat is normal, around 70 beats per minute."

He then led me to another room for an x-ray of my chest.

The procedure occurred quite fast, and afterwards I sat patiently in the waiting room. My feet tapped the floor impatiently as I waited to hear my results. One simple question was going through my mind: Had the tumor gotten any bigger? If it had, then that meant the pills were no longer supporting my heart and I would have to undergo treatment. But it would be pessimistic to think like that, so I stayed hopeful that everything would be okay.

I glanced at a pamphlet on the table.

'Heart Tumors; Types and Treatments.'

Intrigued, I picked one up and began flipping through until I found a specific type.

Primary tumors are tumors that originate in the heart and are rare, occurring in one out of 2,000 people. Tumors that originate in another part of the body and then spread to the heart are called secondary tumors.

A noncancerous primary heart tumor (myxoma) usually develops in the left upper chamber (atrium) of the heart and tends to be more common among women. Cancerous tumors from the use of tobacco are the leading cause of deaths from cancer, more than any other environmental source.

Treatment
Removing a noncancerous primary heart tumor surgically is an option and results in the elimination of the tumor. Other surgical procedures may be possible to assist heart function for larger noncancerous primary heart tumors.

Primary cancerous tumors are likely to be treated with radiation or chemotherapy, since they cannot be removed surgically. Sometimes drugs can be injected into the pericardial area of the heart to slow the tumor's growth. Successful recovery is rare.

"Lyla." Someone called.

I looked up. A nurse motioned for me to follow her, so I took a deep breath and got up.

"Everything is normal, Lyla." The nurse told me reassuringly when we were finally in a private room.

I let out a long sigh of relief as she handed me paperwork I had to fill out.

I returned the packet when I had completed it's entirety, and she told me to "Have a good day." But I think "good" was an understatement for today's fortunate events.