A Month To Live

A Month To Live (43)

I sighed impatiently again, tapping my foot on the white floor. So shiny and clean. Smelled of bleach. Guess it had just been washed. Hospitals were too clean for me. I know they had to be, but they made me feel uncomfortable.

I stopped tapping my foot as someone shot me an irritated look at the noise. I started tapping my fingers on my leg instead. I'd been here so long I was getting irritated. Not that me being irritated was uncommon these days.

'You okay, hon?' a passing nurse asked me. 'You look pretty nervous.'

'Yeah... just want to get out of here.'

'It won't be long,' she said, patting my shoulder kindly. 'Just hang in a few moments longer and it'll all be fine.'

'Yeah.'

I don't think fine was in my vocabulary anymore.

I got up after a few minutes. I'd been there so long I could sit anymore. I truly hated hospitals with a vengeance. My doctor was late, as usual. I spent about an hour giving the reception information that they already had and if I had to fill out one more form again I was going to jam a pencil into someone's eyeball.

I let out a huff of air as I made my way over to the nurse's station at the end of the hall. At least it had a little character around here. The nurses had a few pictures up on the walls and some fake flowers - one of them had told me they had to stop using real flowers because of the amount of allergies patients had.

It took me a moment to realise the coffee machine had a white 'out of order' sticker taped to the front and I let out a groan of displeasure.

'Great,' I grumbled, letting out a breath through gritted teeth.

I made another noise before turning back down the hallway. I avoided a young kid who was messing around with his friend and trying to smack him over the head with one of his crutches. The cast on his leg was covered in writing from his friends and it made me sad. I bet if I broke my leg right now not a single person would sign it.

I threw myself back down into my chair. I waited approximately three more minutes before jumping up again as my temper boiled over. I stormed back down to the nurse's station.

'You have any idea where Doctor Howard is?' I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. 'I've had an appointment with him booked for weeks. It was meant to be an hour ago and he's still not called me in.

'Howard?' she asked slowly. 'Sorry, I'm kind of new. Um, I haven't remembered everyone's names yet,' she admitted. 'Let me get someone else,' she added, hopping up from her chair and disappearing into the back office.

I laid my fingers down on the counter and eyed my knuckles. They were still slightly bruised.

'Yes?' a louder voice said, grabbing my attention. I jerked my head up and met the gaze of a different nurse.

'I had an appointment with Doctor Howard scheduled for an hour ago,' I explained wearily.

'Ah,' she said, nodding. 'I'm sorry, someone should have been in contact to reschedule - he no longer works at this hospital. Did you change your phone number?'

'No,' I shrugged. 'But... I guess I haven't really been answering my phone much the past few weeks,' I admitted.

'I'm sorry, I guess we couldn't get hold of you then,' she said with a frown. 'Give me your details, I'll see who else is available to cover your appointment. You might be in for a long wait, it's been busy around here lately.'

Once again, I found myself in another uncomfortable chair for another hour. I managed to flick through a local newspaper but found that not one article could hold my interest.