I should be cleaning my house and collecting eggs, but this has been weighing heavy on my mind since yesterday, so...here I am.
As I wrote the title, I realized there is not enough time in the world to put down all the questions in regards to Cancer care. It is a very lucrative business (and yes it is a business). Over 40 years ago, I lived through my first experience with Cancer Care, sadly it did not have a positive ending. It was a shock back then, however 40 years later, it is a far bigger shock! One would think ,over time things would have improved greatly, but instead it has appeared to go backwards!
Alright, I will agree that chemo treatments have found ways to decrease the nausea factor greatly, that means an awful lot more pills, and an awful lot more costs. Again, folks, someone is making a shit ton of money, but there is no cure! The business of Cancer is growing enormously, it seems every second person one meets has the disease , either living with it or has had it in the past. This is insane! However, I digress.. I set out to put down my latest questions, as I think that is what this journey has been all about, a continual series of questions without answers, and more specfically any common sense behind them.So here goes my attempt at putting out the most recent insanity.
By now, you will know I was lucky to meet some amazing folks along this journey. They all helped me in different ways, and I hope I have been able to do the same for them. One of them is an amazing woman who has a very rare, and absolutely horrible type of Cancer. She is younger than Chuck, but she is a loving wife, Mother and grandmother who up until June of last year, worked at a job she loved, enjoyed life to the fullest, with friends and family, and like most folks I know, managed a middle class life with mortgage, bills, groceries and the little pleasures that come along with a double income. Now she knew there was something wrong, and did like she was told in all the commercials one sees from the government etc. She was at her Drs. many times, and each time she was told to go home it was just a normal "woman's problem". Thankfully that Dr. went away and she was in to see the replacement Dr. who instantly knew there was something very wrong, and that is when she started her nightmare journey. The first question is simple..perhaps if her Dr. had done their due diligence when she first started going in, she would not be at the point she is right now. Actually that isnt a question, as my experience 40 years ago, began the exact same way, it was a "woman's problem" go home and douche with yoghurt (sorry, but this was what my Mother was told when she began her journey with Uterine Cancer). Careless is the word that comes to mind in these cases. One wonders if these Drs. ever stop to think they made serious mistakes? One hopes they do, and in the future they will take better care, but I have my doubts.
So lets catch back up with my friend. We met when she was in the Kordayban Lodge, beginning her 7.5 weeks of radiation and chemo. Now she had been off to Vancouver for surgery, off to Kelowna for scans etc. before getting to the lodge. Her family had been by her side through that. Her husband had taken time off from his job, she had left her job, they had expenses throughout this period, and as I have learned, one can never catch up in Canada after losing pay cheques. So she finished her treatments the first week of January, and went home until the 27th of Feb. when they travelled back to PG for a Dr. appt. Please keep in mind, like Chuck, no CTscan, nothing after this rigorous course of treatment. She gets to her appt. her Dr. does an internal, and informs her the treatment did nothing, she is also told that her case was transfered to Vancouver the week before her appointment!! The Dr. told her she was to make an appointment with her OBGYN for a biopsy, and to have him arrange a CTscan????? WTF! So, from a simple internal check, this person knew that all the radiation and chemo had not done anything, they must have Superman xray powers, or something. My friend knew the treatment had improved her life, she was able to do far more after recovery than before, so one can imagine the disappointment, but here is the next question..how did the Dr. know all of this the week before the appointment when she sent the case off to Vancouver? Why did this Dr. not have a Scan done before the appointment? Why did she expect the OBGYN to do things she should have done, after the fact?Two days after her Dr. appointment she recieved a call from this Dr. informing her that she needed to get to Vancouver ASAP , they would be setting up a PET scan in Kelowna, possibly doing surgery right away and handing my friend a really devastating prognosis, out of the blue. Imagine that folks...just take the big C away from all of this, a call telling you that you have to drop everything right now, find a way to get to Vancouver, and normal life will cease for yourself and your family.
Now, my friend went though her treatments on her own, she insisted her husband continue to work, because bills do not stop for Cancer. She was close enough to PG that she would go home on weekends, but holy cow, she went through all the shit this treatment causes alone mon to Friday, for 7.5 weeks. Now this family must make a decision to attempt to struggle without an income, and pay expenses in Vancouver,and risk losing everything they have worked for, or my friend must go it alone.What would you do? No one comes out of the wood work when a family is struggling with this devastation from the Cancer society, arranging for a way to assist. Truth be told, folks are left on their own to try and figure out a way to suvive. Both myself and my friend have folks who have stepped up to do what they can to help, and trust me, that is so appreciated, however, the Cancer "Company" has not been on the phone once.I have no qualms about all the donations going to research, trust me, the greatest thing would be to have a cure for this, however, I know this is not the facts. There are some folks who are getting very wealthy off the misery of others. Yes there is places for folks who have to leave their homes to get treatment in the cities, and they are indeed free,but truth is, these free places are often subsidized by businesses or private citizens, or fund raising by citizens, not the Cancer Society. I think you will find a large percentage of folks who have lost loved ones to this disease, will state they do NOT support the Cancer Society because like us, they never had any communication with them! Now that said, I will go on to question the government..
.Little play by play, average working class British Columbian (yes I know this is a politically incorrect term) under the age of 65, working pay cheque to pay cheque, because that is now the reality in our country, gets diagnosed with Cancer. Put on medication that plays havoc with their system, so they have no energy, and often in a fog, no way they can work. Their only option is 26 weeks of what our government calls Medical EI. So suddenly, instead of 5K a month usual pay, give or take (mostly take) a family is suppose to manage on 2200 a month. Now this illness often last far beyond 26 weeks, especially the way the medical system wait lists are insane, so suddenly the 26 weeks are up, and lo and behold the stipend disappears. Next option CPP disability, wait for it, that is a whopping $1300 a month! Absolutely impossible to survive on, so clearly Welfare is the only other way a person can survive. Right now, our country is sending sh*t tons of money to other countries, and tax paying Canadian Cancer patients are suppose to manage on poverty level government assistance? Oh Oh, I have gone off on another tangent, sorry. So many questions!
Here is my last one for today, how is my friend suppose to do what is necessary to fight her battle? Everyone posts different resources for bits and pieces of assistance for her, but like so many fighting the Cancer battle, along with the stress of the disease, the overwhelming stress of paying for day to day living lies heavy, and suddenly having to find a way to add travel and loss of income seems insurmountable.Our country is touting M.A.I.D to those with disabilities, mental illness, loss of hope, what is there that they are offering to those who are hanging onto hope? Perhaps the Cancer business can come up with some resource to help those British Columbians caught in this nightmare. I would be first up at the plate to volunteer for that saving grace
So hey, if you have any answers to any of my questions , send me a message. Life is no longer full of simple questions like what to mae for supper, now they are the ones of how to fight the battle of your lifetime!
