Scary news today

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funnygurl
I got a phone call from my Dr today telling me an x-ray showed a large aggressive lesion on a bone in my knee. I am waiting for an appointment for more tests. The more I read about bone lesions the more frightened I am. Aparently colo-rectal cancer often mestatisizes in the knee. I had colo-rectal cancer in 2003. Tests and treatment take forever here in Alberta.
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Juuust_James
Greetings to you up there in the great White North! i can totally imagine your worries and fears. I found our just over a yr ago that im at stage 3 or 5 Kidney Disease my Dr says its likely due to all the yrs of the heavy doses of Sulfasalazine I was on before Surgery became a necessity to survive. We Ostomates have a whole list of possible future side effects and conditions that can occur when you've had or have a serious Bowel Disorder.

Heath care seems to be a no-win situation no matter where you live. Here in the states we have great Drs and rarely have long waits to get in to see one, BUT -we either have to pay and arm and a leg for treatments and prescriptions if we have no insurance, or you have to deal with HMO not wanting to pay for stuff. The up there in Canada and just about all the other countries in the world -you have national health Plans -so everything is covered,-but you have hurry up and wait to get seen. Ive had a lot of friends in the UK wait weeks or months to have surgery onlt to show up and get sent home and re-scheduled cause the hospital didnt have a bed that day. I never hear of stuff like that happening over here.
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notexpectingthis
Praying for you!!!
mild_mannered_super_hero
interesting point, if you want something f amp;cked up...let the government be in charge of it.
socialized anything doesnt work.....sadly....millions here in the us clamor for quot;free quot; health care. be very careful what you wish for...you might get it.......ok rant off...
funnygurl
Sometimes people get in sooner than scheduled brcause the person ahead of them on the waiting list literally died waiting. Then there are the line-jumping tricks you learn like call an ambulance if you don't want to sit in the emergency room for literally 2 days. People who come into a hospital via ambulance have priority because the ambulance attendants cannot leave until you have been treated or admitted. Ambulances have become a taxi service for the impatient or elderly.How messed up is that? People die in the emergency waiting room here as well. And I live in the richest province where the economy is booming. Indeed the rest of the world should be careful what they wish for!
 
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mild_mannered_super_hero

hmmmmm,....that quot;free quot; health care isnt completly quot;free quot; then in my opinion.

quot;Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery quot; nbsp; nbsp;winston churchill
Dave_Canada
We, as Canadians, are also reminded that our "free" healthcare is not free every time we look at the income tax deductions on our pay stubs.
It's also a mistaken idea that everything is free. A few months after the ambulance ride that saved my life, I got a bill in the mail for it.
I also got a bill for the stockings I had no choice in wearing to prevent blood clots.
A bill for the respirometer that I was ordered to use post op to keep my lungs clear. A bill for a box of tissue in my room.
The province allows for a twice yearly grant for ostomy supplies totalling $600. Anyone who knows the cost of flanges, bags, paste, wipes, belts, and dressings knows how far $600 gets you. I am fortunate enough to have great insurance through my employer, but even then, I have to prove to them in some cases that all other avenues have been exhausted before they pay, and then they dont pay 100%. As a final blow, you cant just flash the insurance card and have it all covered. In most cases you pay for it yourself and then get reimbursed, which can take weeks. Sometimes it was a choice, pay the phone bill on time, or buy ostomy supplies. Guess which won out?
I was forced to use a walker during my rehabilitation. Had to rent that on my own dime.
Yes, the operation that save my life, and the reversal that came nine months later cost me nothing at the moment, so I will glady take that in exchange for a few other minor inconveniences.
I live in one of the more prosperous areas of the province and thousands of people don't even have regular doctors yet still pay taxes just as I do. I have the luxury of having found a family doctor instead of having to be like thousands of others who, when they get sick, have to find a walk in clinic, wait with everyone else, and fully explain their entire medical history every visit to a new doctor.
Funnygurl is spot on with her assessment of emergency rooms. I can recall being transferred to another hospital for an abdominal infection during my rehab, and waiting for nearly 6 hours on a gurney in a hallway on a Saturday night, while the nurses and paramedics wrestled with drunks, vagrants and high college students, while at the same time trying to perform triage to sort out the true emergencies.
Oh, and at the present time, our province is about $16 billion in debt and the federal government isn't too sure there will be any money left in the Canada Pension plan by the time I hit retirement age.
funnygurl
yippee! I have an appointment on June 28th for a bone scan. Checked into going to Montana if I need a biopsy. Would cost 2000.00 t0 2500.00 but it might speed up the process. They would have the results in 2 days. I could get in there in 2 days. Last time it took more than a month to get biopsy results here. Why aren't people rioting in the streets I want to know!
Primeboy

Great news, FG! Let's hope for good scan results. Maybe there will be dancing in the streets instead. nbsp; nbsp; PB
funnygurl
% *#@! My appointment has been cancelled. The machine broke down. They offered to rebook me for July 5th. However, I found another place in another city and got my dr to book me in for Friday. I also got a call this afternoon that my dr booked me an MRI on June 8th. The appt is for Oct 1st. If you think socialized medicine is the answer think again!
mild_mannered_super_hero

i can only imagine your frustration dealing with a bureacratic{spelling} system that doesnt really care about the person. healthcare without COMPASSION.... that sucks. my prayers that you dont get delayed again.
christiesdad
Aw, c'mon MMSH!
Dammit! You don't need that crap going on in your life.
Maybe the machine made a mistake? Just don't let it get you down in the dumps too far.
I will be pulling for you and I know the other souls will be too.
I don't know anything about that malady, but will be
praying for you.

P.S. 'at goes for you too Funnygirl
funnygurl
Yipee I got a bone scan. I had the scans and was 40 miles out of the city when they called me back. They needed more pictures. They did 3 more of my pelvis. It is my knee that was the problem initially. Now I am really freaked out. July 1st is a holiday here and it takes 3-5 business days for my dr to get my results. So now i get to wait more!
eddie
Hi, FunnyG, My doc told me that if my colon Rectal cancer came back it would be in lungs or liver, working in a hosp. I will ask the doc's about this, I have never heard of Ca coming back in knee. Anyway I sure hope it is benign
eddie
Primeboy
It is very difficult to just sit around and wait for "that call." Many of us have been though that experience. We're all cheering for you and hoping for good news. Whatever comes your way, however, you can deal with it, I know. PB
funnygurl
Well I finally lost it today. I am feeling much better as a result. A moron in a cancer support room told me that i was a fraud and that Canada's health care system is wonderful. He said I made it all up! According to him no one has to wait a year for a triple bypass, 4 months for an MRI or 2 years for knee or hip surgery. I invited him to cancel his fancy american inurance and come on up and take his chances in line. I didn't realize how frustrated and angry I was until I went off on him. You gotta get your therapy where you can lol I'm sure he will be fine!
notexpectingthis
LOVE IT!!!!! I'm American - I swear - that guy had to be a Democrat. How are you holding up?? Know anything yet????
Melissa
funnygurl
no, nothing yet. I am not sure how much they can tell from a bone scan. I am not sure if it shows whether the lesion is benign or malignant.
Primeboy
None are so blind as those who would not see. (Matthew Henry 1662-1714). PB
funnygurl
I think I have it figured out! This is do-it-yourself healthcare! I called again this morning and guess what--no bone scan results after 10 days of waiting. I called the place that did the scan directly and they were willing to fax it! I only spent an hour getting the fax number from my dr's office and getting it to the imaging clinic. Good thing I am retired and have the time to research and book my own scans when they are postponed and arrange to get the results faxed. Wonder what people who have jobs are supposed to do.

A friend just told me about a mutual friend's case which is also disturbing. The sister has a stage 4 brain tumour and waited 13 hours in an emergency room in Edmonton recently. After 13 hours they put her in a room with a bunch of men who were also waiting to get the gurneys out of the hallway. One of them was masturbating. The family called their MLA who called the Health Minister and miraculously an hour later she was moved to another room and admitted. Thank God she had someone to fight for her.
Primeboy
If it's this bad now, I can only imagine how miserable things are going to be in the near future. A visit to the ER might mean days, now hours, lying on a gurney in a crowded hospital corridor. No one seems to be addressing the growing shortage of medical personnel, particularly primary care providers. As long as the majority of people think like your moron friend in the cancer support room, this situation will continue.PB
funnygurl
The wait in emergency rooms here can often be 3 or 4 days. Particularly on weekends. People die waiting in emergency rooms here. A boy recently died of appendicitis in the emergency room.
funnygurl
After one month of waitng for a diagnosis i finally have an xray and a bone scan. The bone scan does not show what the xray did. It is apparently not a lesion in the bone but rather a lesion in the soft tissue in my knee. It is most likely benign and the MRI on Oct 1 will show more clearly what it is. The radiologist who read the bone scan would have liked to have had access to the xray so he knew what he was looking for but he did not. Go figure! I have unrelated ligament and muscle issues and am being referred to a physical terrorist. The other good news is I think my extended healthcare insurance covers physiotherapy.
three

Excellent Freudian slip!!!
funnygurl
That is not a freudian slip actually. James Brady who was shot and had extensive rehabilitation after the attempt on president Reagan's life said that.Just got a call from the Physiotherapy department in my small town. There is a waiting list for physiotherapy as well. Depending on the seriousness of the case it could be several weeks before I get in. LOL Oh, and I am on a wait list to receive an answer from the Health Minister about why the wait lists for MRI's is 4 months long! I should write a book! I could call it Waiting--An Alberta Healthcare drama.
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