The Business of Cancer

I did not want to be back so soon, I certainly did not want to fall into the pit of despair, and,  if I didn't feel the overwhelming need to put this down fresh as only hours ago, I would not be here.

Now you remember, it was only Tuesday, 2 days ago, we had our Dr. appointment. Concern about the swollen lymph nodes was the main focus, along with the "any trouble swallowing"question that had me asking why it was asked. Apparently the last CT showed some swelling in the esophagus, but they were assuming that was scar tissue. Again folks, it is exhausting grabbing onto every word spoken, to ensure what is being said is understood. We were told they were simply going to continue on with the same treatment, until such time as he got another Oncologist, no time mentioned when that would be, however because of the swollen nodes, it may be time to try another medication, perhaps this one was not working?

Well here we are on Thursday, did I mention he has had some pretty harsh headaches lately? Today the head ache was bad. Years ago he had a sub dural bleed that was pretty serious, he had to have neurosurgery to drill 2 holes in his skull , the headaches were as bad as they had been when this happened. I tried to get him in to see his family Dr. sadly, he would have to wait until October for that, even after speaking to the assistant, it was suggested he go to the ER. He wasn't having that. So off to the treatment in Smithers. Now folks, this is when I wondered WTF was going on. 

The nurse did the regular questions (been through 12 treatments before this) but once again "any problems swallowing?" So I tell her, his esophagus has been cleared of cancer he swallows fine and dandy. Hummm..she answers that is NOT what Dr. Saltzman had in his notes, the esophagus is not cancer free. I was pretty touchy today, so I blurted out we would not know what was in his notes as we saw him once in December, and he never bothered to call, zoom or even put his notes in the papers we requested from Northern Health, we were told different!We were told his liver is cancer free as well!!Again sometimes I get ticked, and this ticked me off. If that was true, then someone has been lying to us all along, and we know it was certainly not the surgeon who did the bloody biopsies, then she proceeds to ask Chuck if he needs a counciller to speak with, the Cancer Clinic in PG offers personal councilling.Of course Chuck tells her, I am the one who needs someone to speak with about all of this, so she gets me a card, now we are 11 months into this, why the offer?. He tells her about his headaches, she suggest we head down to ER after the treatment. FYI because I am sure you folks do not know this, The Cancer Clinic does not do anything beyond deal with the Cancer issue, any other issues must be dealt with by Family Drs. or ERs, totally separate and apart. I can tell his head is really bothering him, so once the treatment is done, down stairs we go to ER. 

As far as wait times go, it moved very quickly. He was seen by the ER Dr. who was very nice, he mentioned the head aches, mentioned the previous bleed, CTscan was arranged and done. All we had to do was wait for the report. 

Now I have shared all our private shit on here, against my nature and his, but I did it in the hopes that it may help others, and maybe , just maybe somehow get out to the world, how disgusting the whole system is. It is simply a business, money is poured into it, folks get the feel good feeling when they donate, numbers of donations are put up for the province to see, and no one really knows where all that money goes. As I said last time, Big Pharma is rolling in mega billions with the business of Cancer, CEO's are making major dollars running "charities" yes research is funded, but Pharma funds most research. Those folks who are suppose to be keeping an eye on your case only have a minimum amount of time for you, so....things just slip through the massive cracks, huge wait times allow cancer to grow, and if it is a fast growing one, weeks can make a huge difference, and we know that, big time. Procedures are missed, holidays mean treatment stops, Staff shortgages mean wait times. Treatments are doled out over periods of months and months, with checks continuing on as limited as possible. Chuck's checks are every 3 months a CTscan, well, today we realized they simply scan the same area, over and over again, not checking beyond the original problem area with Stage 4 Cancer, (that means it is moving around, folks! )This same old routine is a huge mistake, and today we found out how huge it can be. 

The report came back, and it was beyond what we ever imagined. Chuck now has cancer in his brain!! Not one CT scan of his head in almost a year, not one body scan, not one MRI, not one PETscan, and now, not one, but multiple metastasis.. 

So..we have an ER Dr. having to give us this absolutely devastating news, I pretty much lost it in the ER, and sadly took it out on someone who had done their job properly, I ranted about the Cancer Clinic and I was loud, I ranted the fact that in all this time, those people never looked beyond his chest area, I had to walk out of the room because I was so livid. I did return and apologize to the Dr. and the nurse, I told them I knew this was not on them. The Dr, had checked his file during this time, to see if they had ever done the head CT, and they had not. Now, we go right back into the nightmare of the Cancer Agency, the results are sent by the ER Dr. to PG, and she hopes that she will be put in touch with the Oncology department (remember he does NOT have an Oncologist) and we will once again have to wait until they contact us, remember 11 weeks last time! This agency is criminal, as I said before they murder people. They weld all the power over this disease, it has been given to them, ordinary Family Drs. ER Drs, folks who attempt to cure, have no part in this. It is a medical hierarchy with inadequate staff, and piss poor service. The longer you wait (a file marked urgent sits for 11 weeks) the more time that deadly cancer grows. 

I am hanging onto my anger, it has only been a short time since I watched my sister in law fall through the Cancer Care cracks, and lost her, now those cracks are swallowing another, and we have absolutely no control over the insanity that surrounds this system. This power has got to be taken from them, they are not capable of doing their business, they remove certain procedures from specific stages of the disease, not allowing all to have the same, giving them the same chances. They play God, and answer to no one, leaving grief in their wake. These people must be held to account because they are indeed killing people, perhaps not with weapons, but definitely with absolute lack of care and consideration. I have to make this my focus, I abhor the thought of other  families suffering through this nightmare . 

Sadly the ER Dr. believes a specialist will call us tomorrow, I have very strong doubts this will happen. But maybe I am wrong?