Melissa is stuck in the waiting room before being let go

They found the door was still closed. Dr. Gunderson knocked on the door once again and the same voice called out “I’m so sorry, but the patient and I are discussing birth control and need our privacy. I can’t open the door right now, my patient is still undressed and we’re out of gowns!” Melissa almost died inside from the sheer irony of the situation.

“Ah, I see!” Dr. Gunderson replied. “Well, it looks you’ll have to wait in the waiting room for your results. I’ll be out to get you and discuss them with you.” Melissa knew what her fate was for this time, so she meekly stood in the waiting room, once again in her corner.

There were, as always, gasps and oohs and ahs. “Look mom, that woman’s naked,” a teenage girl told her Mom while pointing at Melissa.

“Yes, dear. Now are you starting to not be so shy about your body?”

“A litle bit, but I still hope I’m not naked in the waiting room like her!”

Melissa just blushed and almost cried, but decided to grin and bear it. The women in the room kept looking at her in gazes of wonder, and Melissa started noticing that not all of the attention was negative. Indeed, much of it was quite positive.

“Wow, look at that woman! She’s so gorgeous and body positive!”

“I know! I wish I had the confidence to stand out here like that. She’s making me feel better about my own body. This is good luck for my IUD insertion!”

This chatter made her feel quite a bit better, and strangely enough almost empowered. Eventually Dr. Gunderson came back and got her into the room, which had finally opened up again. In the doctor’s hands were X-rays of Melissa’s breasts.

“Now, your results of the mammogram look fine for right now, which is to be expected. Look, see this dense duct tissue and lymph nodes? All is good now, but we need this as a baseline for when you’re older and cancer might start developing. Middle-aged women tend to get mammograms every year, but that might be a bit much, how about we do this again in a couple of years. Same with your Pap, all should be good now, although you won’t get your results back for a while, but you need to keep testing every 3 to 5 years until you’re 65 to mark your progress and make sure the cells don’t start turning cancerous. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Oh, and here’s your prescription, it should last you quite a while. So great to see you again, and see you in a couple of years!”

Finally relieved to be getting her prescription, Melissa left the office and drove home. On her way, she reflected on the weekend and how so much had happened in the span of 72 hours. She was still looking forward to be back home for the summer, especially now that her medical appointments were finished. It was good that she was getting healthy, she thought. When she got home, she decided, she would call Brad and have a better conversation with him, sorting things out for Friday and hopefully clearing up any misunderstandings about the weekend. She pulled into her driveway and saw her father watering the lawn. He was looking right at her and his mouth was wide open.

Melissa wondered what was up and looked down around her. That’s when she realized that she left her clothes at Dr. Gunderson’s office.