At 6:45 am, I walk into the doors of MD Anderson Cancer Center. I and thousands of other patients. It is important that we arrive on time, so that we can wait. We must be calm and ready when the staff calls. We sit in our respective stations to be tested, scanned, infused, radiated, probed, cut, examed, questioned, and/or told if we might live. Currently, I am in a small quiet corner of Waiting Room B of Diagnostic Imaging Center C in Building R. I am sitting next to a fish tank. Many fish work at MD Anderson. They are part of the social services/psychiatry department. They keep us calm.

Fish workers with patient 169996

I am sitting next to my friend Mark. He is enjoying banana bread. I am fasting for the scan. No bread for me or the fish.