New meaning to the phrase "no good deed goes unpunished"

I had thought nothing of it.

Dr. H and Dr. C had emailed and called to set up a meeting with me the following day. It was weird that they didn’t ask for a specific time or day. But they lacked the common social skills found in so many. They are scientists. As the only female, usually, in the department I have gotten used to the awkward and uncoordinated social skills of my fellow peers. Except for the eye contact thing. The ones that avoid eye contact still make me nervous.

So, I emailed and set it up. They were probably going to give me an official thank you and send off. Two years of hard work and I finally got into graduate school. No more being the runt of the office. No more hours upon hours of mindless tedious work only to have your superior put his name on your paper because his phD will get it published. Well, honestly this would still happen but with a phD I could maybe dream of a primary author paper.

When I walked into the room Dr. H was particularly awkward. He had stated making eye contact a couple months ago but that progressed appeared to be gone. Bummer. We walked to Dr. C’s office when the most earth shattering thing happened. Dr. C gave me a hug. ?!?!?!?!? My heart fell desperately into my stomach. This is not the professional awkward and nervous behavior I was used to.

“What’s up ?” I asked

Dr. C: “Sit down Aida You might find it weird I didn’t send you the MRI you volunteered to do for my study.”  

I didn’t.

Dr. C: “Don’t worry everything is going to be ok”

What is? I thought.

Dr. H:“We wanted to make sure of what it is before we told you anything. And we know that everything is going to be ok so don’t you worry. We really care about you”

Dr. C: “Yeah, don’t worry? You can do this”

This is not going to be good. Why wont they just spit it out. They can’t fire me. I am leaving. Is this about the MRI. Did I break it? I did leave my shoes on. There is metal in my shoes.

Dr. H: “We sent the scan to the hospital and we thing we know what it is”

What what is. They have been talking forever. Why wont they just say it.

Dr. C:“We just don’t want you to worry”

They both looked at me in the eye. And my heart dropped into my stomach. They found something.

Me: ”Just tell me what it is? ”

“ You have a lesion in your brain. We think it’s an epidermoid tumor. You have to go see a neurosurgeon as soon as you can.”

shit