Invisible Venom - My battle with Cancer

Jessica Wrenn Narrative Essay

Eng. 10/A91 9/19/07

Invisible Venom

"Okay, don't panic." My dad was sitting in the chair next to me in Dr. Ocher's office we had just been told that I had adenocarcinoma, cancer of the small intestine. Two days earlier, I had received a phone call from Deb at my doctor's office. She asked if one of my parents and I could come in for a consultation with the doctor about the results of some tests I had done on my abdominal area. I told her that was fine and she booked me an appointment for two days later at 3:00p.m. I met my dad at his office and we drove to the Brigham Woman's Hospital together. I had no idea that my whole world was about to be turned upside down. As we waited, my dad asked me if I knew why they wanted to see him.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Primary campus

Endoscopic image of adenocarcinoma of duodenum see...

The Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston. Image was...

I told him that I didn't know but it was probably some kind of formality because he was my emergency contact. Dr. Ocher's office is set up to look like a living room, couches, pictures and bookcases to make patients feel comfortable, my dad was sitting in the chair next to me, Dr. Ocher was sitting across from us, he was explaining that from the tests he had run the past few weeks he could without question diagnose me with adenocarcinoma, I don't remember anything that he said to me, the only thing I heard was my dad's voice "Okay, don't panic." I left that office with a pamphlet that explained the 5 stages of grief, telling myself the whole way home that I wasn't going to need to read the pamphlet. Tomorrow the doctor's office would call me and apologize for mixing my test results up...