Chapter 15: Making friends

EMMA

An hour later, I left Mr. Crew's room, feeling somewhat better than I had when I'd gone in. He wasn't an easy man, that was for sure, but on the other hand, he'd been fighting multiple myeloma for almost four years. He'd been in remission for two years; now, the stem cell transplant that had given him a few years of relative health had to be repeated. He was in the hospital for a clinical drug therapy prior to the next stem cell harvest.

The man had been through excruciating pain, crippling illness and fatigue. I couldn't blame him for being tired of more doctors, more questions and more options. Still, he'd opened up enough to listen to me for a while and had seemed amenable to further discussion, once I'd had the time to review his file more thoroughly.

Back in the hallway, I wasn't unaware of the eyes that followed me with interest as I wandered toward the staff lounge. The head nurse and I hadn't been exactly circumspect in our disagreement, and if this hospital was lik