Chapter 1: Bad Day
Cristina sat on the table, shivering in the thin paper robe that had been given to her by the nurse. She felt like she'd been poked and prodded all day, and she felt woozy from the blood draw. She'd been waiting in the small clinic for almost a half-hour, and she really wanted to go back to work. If this went on much longer, she wouldn't be able to scrub in this afternoon. She picked up her chart (not nearly as organized as the ones at Seattle Grace) and started flipping through it. Nothing new. She looked at her watch. It had been 40 minutes, and she hadn't even seen her doctor yet. Just as she was about to leave, she heard a knock on the door. The doctor stepped in.
"Nice to meet you, Cristina. My name is Dr. Smith." He glanced up. "So my patient is a doctor. You must have been kept waiting awhile, looking at your own chart."
Cristina looked at him, brow furrowed. "Hi," she said.
"I always hate delivering results to doctors. What kind of doctor are you?"
"A surgeon. Well, a resident. My first year just ended. My specialty is cardiothoracic. I work at Seattle Grace."
"Very nice. Surgeons are the worst to deliver labs to. You tell them one thing, and they automatically think it's the worst possible scenario," said Dr. Smith with a fairly grim face.
Cristina picked up on his expression. "Spit it out, doc. I know my labs weren't perfect, I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think anything was wrong."
"You seem fairly healthy. I know you came because you just haven't been feeling well. Your blood tests show that your white counts are slightly elevated, which could mean many things. The first concern, of course, is leukemia, but I don't think that is likely. You don't have any bruising or swollen glands. Just to be safe, I would like you to see an oncologist because if we catch it early, there is a high chance of survival."
"Cancer, you mean I might have cancer?"
"I'm not positive, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. You can get dressed and leave now. The oncologist will fax you a report."
Cristina pulled on her clothes and left for Seattle Grace. In her head, she heard "I would like you to see an oncologist." replaying the whole way there.
