When I first got diagnosed with stage IV bowel cancer I was quite surprised that medical receptionists would routinely say to me, as I walked in to my appointment, “Hi, how are you?”
I was tempted to respond “Well given that you’ve got my diagnosis open on the screen in front of you, and given that you’ve probably seen a heap of patients in my situation, maybe you should tell me?”
Or even, "What do you mean? I'm dying. And how are you?"
But despite the testimony of my wife, I'm not quite that unkind.
Current situation: God is kind, I am well, no evidence of tumour growth for quite a while now. Treatment projected to be lifelong, side effects have been minimal.
Anyway. How are you?
(Oh, and it's good to be kind to receptionists. The correct answer is "Good thanks. How are you?")
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