Vera

The tendency is to get impatient while waiting at a medical facility, a time to observe one's surroundings, and a time to eavesdrop (just a tad) on conversations.

The group of three that came in after me was speaking a foreign language, so I tried to guess the language.  I concluded German.

Then I tried to figure their relationship - an older couple and maybe a friend or daughter.  The gentleman hobbled to the receptionist's desk.  He stated date of birth as 1951.  Sheesh, one of these geezers is close to my age.  No, not the old lady with the walker, sunglasses, who is resting her head on the frame of the walker....She had to be much older than that....

I deduced that the patient was Vera, after the guy hollered , "Hey Vera, what was the name of that brain tumor you had?"  Vera (in English) hollers back some long term that I am unable to note here or ever pronounce.  The patient is the one with the walker, eek, born in 1951.

The second question shouted by the guy, who now looks very tired, was, "And Vera, they wanna know when is was that you had breast cancer."  Now all three look tired and I deduced that Vera is wearing sunglasses because the light is probably a pain inducer.  The resting on the walker from countless treatments.

The final comment I overheard, "Oh yeah, and she has a fake hip."

I left counting my blessings and feeling sad for a group of three German-speaking survivors.