EIGHTEEN
May 29 1:37 a.m.Amanda, Linda, and Barbara arrived in the surgical waiting room at 11:45 p.m. Brian had been in surgery for a couple of hours and the surgery was still in process. The only other human presence was a couple in their seventies waited on the other side of the big waiting room wearing worried expressions. There was a half dozen scattered couches and end tables, dog-eared medical and science journals on the tables and several paper coffee cups that served as reminders of previous visitors who shared commonality in caffeine, anxiety and prayer for the recovery of a loved one. Amanda reflected that each of those discarded cups reflected the history of many who had waited in desperation for a result entirely beyond their control. In a way, this surgical waiting room seem
