The pause

There's a lot of business to take care of when you're dealing with cancer. And every time you make a new phone call, you have to remind yourself to leave ... the pause.

I had a dermatology checkup scheduled before I found out about the cancer. But then when all the carcinoma crap got going with appointments popping up left and right, I figured I should cancel the dermatology appointment. It's not as important right now as the other appointments are.

So I called the office and got one of the ladies at the front desk.

The conversation went like this:

"Hi, I need to cancel an appointment," I said.

"Okay, what's your date of birth and name?" she asked.

I told her.

"Do you want to reschedule the appointment?" she asked.

"Eventually, but I don't know when," I said. 

I didn't realize how cryptic that sounded until I said it out loud.

Before she could say anything, I said, "I just found out I have breast cancer, and the appointment are kind of crazy, so once that stuff gets more settled, I'll call back and make another appointment for my checkup."

She paused for a couple of seconds, then said, "Well first of all, I am so, so sorry to hear that. I hope that everything goes as well and as easy as it can for you. And secondly, call back whenever you have a better grasp on your appointments, and we'll get a time scheduled for you."

I got off the phone and felt kind of bad because even though she doesn't know me by name, I could tell that my rushed explanation was kinda weird. I didn't leave the pause that would give her the chance to say, "I'm so sorry about that."

So as I've had to cancel and rearrange more appointments, I've got the speech down pat. It's a little more generic.

It goes like this:

"Hi, I need to cancel an appointment."

They get my information and ask if I'd like to reschedule.

Then I reply, "I'm not sure of my schedule right now, but I'll call back when I can set something up. Thank you."

I'm an open book. I usually tell everybody everything, so I just need to reign myself in a little and realize that sometimes, everybody doesn't need to know everything. Make it short and sweet and move on to the next call.