Janice Cowden, MBC Patient Advocate, shared an update from Abigail Johnston, Individual Member at Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, on LinkedIn, adding:
“One of the hidden burdens of living with metastatic breast cancer is the loss of time.
We’ve all waited for medical appointments. But for those living with MBC, waiting isn’t an occasional inconvenience. It’s a recurring part of life.
Appointments. Labs. Scans. Infusions. Repeat. When your life is already measured in scans, treatment response, and progression, every ordinary hour matters. Time spent waiting is time that can’t be spent with family, making memories, working, resting, or simply living.
Three lines from Abigail Johnston’s latest essay struck me:
- There is a grief… the grief of stolen ordinary hours.
- It is not just inconvenience, it is loss.
- For those of us living in borrowed time already… we know how many ordinary Fridays are likely left.
This resonated deeply because it’s a reality so many in the metastatic breast cancer community know all too well. This isn’t about blaming clinicians who are working within an overstretched system. It’s about recognizing that patient-centered care isn’t just about the right treatment. It’s also about respecting patients’ time, because time is one of the few things we can never give back.
A powerful and important read.”
Quoting Abigail Johnston:
“Exploring the Hidden Costs of Waiting for Medical Appointments
There is a room for waiting in every doctor’s office. White walls. Beige chairs. Climate control that never quite matches the temperature of a human body. As if life itself is on hold and we are just buffering. There is a sign (and sometimes text messages and emails and calls). Arrive fifteen minutes early. As if time is valued equally between patient and doctor, but it isn’t…”