Men and mammograms

While waiting for my annual mammogram, I noticed more men then women in the lobby.   Husbands waiting for their wives, obviously.  My gut told me that the men were only there because of a wife's cancer diagnosis.  Why else would husbands go to the "breast health center?"  I wanted to get up and say "I'm so sorry that you have to take this journey..." knowing first hand how much cancer sucks (and how it's often sugarcoated as a journey). About the only thing that's good about the beginning of the 'journey' are waiting rooms like this one. I remembered getting my diagnosis after waiting in a room that resembled a spa.  I recall thinking how about the lengths that health care facilities go to to create an atmosphere of serenity, when your world feels like it's caving in. Since I'm now in my 6th year of the journey, I feel slightly less anxious about these visits.  I've traded in anxiousness for empathy, feeling a desire to reach out to those who may just be beginning their journey today, the ones who's husbands are sitting next to me now.