In Between Spaces
It is June 20th, 2016 and I find myself stepping down a sterile hallway in fluffy socks, the rubber non-slip grips sticking slightly to the floor. It's quiet, except for the metallic sound of the IV rack being rolled along next to me. I had just turned to my nervous parents, held up two fingers, said "peace out," and left them behind. The nurse commented how awesome she thought that was, that she'd never heard anyone say that before. I told her it was the hippie in me. That's the truth. I didn't think summer was going to be this way. I knew something was up with my body, but I rationalized it was mid-life, hormonal changes, stress, burn-out from teaching so long. The delay in addressing my symptoms led to an eggplant-sized, fast-growing mass in my pelvis...not conducive to riding a bike. I've been with my much loved doctor for almost 20 years, through pregnancies, births, miscarriages, post-divorce (and all the birth control and STD testing conversatio...