30 Something Baby Doc

I hate that fucking word. I saw a 50 yo asian female with abnormal bleeding a week ago and performed a endometrial biopsy. She came back to my office yesterday for the results. I checked the computer to get the results. The pathology lab had not contacted me prior to this so I assumed everything was OK. I called up her results and it turns out to be the worst case scenario...poorly differentiated endometrial carcinoma (aggressive cancer). I've never been good at giving bad news. I just try to be blunt but optmistic. I walked into the patient's room, greeted her, sat next to her and told her the biopsy came back as cancer. She nodded her head and showed no emotion what so ever. I continued to expain the next steps including surgical staging and possibe ajuvant therapy. The patients affect was still blunt. She expressed an understanding and quietly left my office.

An hour or 2 later my nurse called her to give her a follow up appointment. After their phone conversation the nurse came to me and asked me why I let that patient leave so upset. I looked at her puzzled. My nurse told me the patient was frantically yelling and shouting obscenities at her family members.