Alex and I also had dramas. But we were made to feel it was somehow our fault. With so many patients waxing lyrical about their care, how great the doctors were, how caring the nurses were etc, the unspoken question was "how come you two are having such a tough time?". My response at the time was that I could see the things going wrong whereas maybe the other patients couldn't. Even on this forum, I was reticent about listing the errors and stupidity we were subjected to. Even so, I couldn't help wonder that maybe my proactive stance in confronting the doctors and nurses contributed somehow.

Now I know rationally this is untrue, and if I hadn't got the patient advocate involved and threatened to take my complaint to the area health board, there is a fairly good chance, Alex's chemo/radiation treatment would have been interrupted with fatal consequences. The up side of the whole debacle was we managed to stay on track for chemo/radiation, get the original doctor removed, receive care from senior nurse on shift only and get EVERYTHING documented and reported to me every night. There was also some small satisfaction in seeing the nurses and a particular doctor run the other way when they heard me clicking down the hall.