Were you treated in a timely manner? Yes, diagnosed at end of February surgery April 6th. My radiation did not start until May due to an error by the pathologist (surgeon had pathology completely redone). I belive there are poor pathologists on both sides of the border but once they got the results of the redone pathology, my radiation started within 2 weeks.

2nd surgery I was diagnosed Sept 24th and surgery was Oct 23rd. Chemo drugs were the same as what others here have had, and radiation started again within 2 weeks of the decision to radiate. Once again however a problem arose with the pathology in that it took over a MONTH to get the full pathology post surgery. This is an area which has been clearly identified across Canada and our government is committed to improvement.

Was your pain managed well? Pain managed very well - I have the whole family of morphine, plus patches, t3's, anything that would ease the pain. We have a pain management unit at our CancerCare Centre and people are freely referred there.

Did they use a triage system to determine where in the cue you would be? I don't know the answer to this question. I am not privy to their scheduling practices

Did you get the tests, scans and labwork in a timely manner? Was your treatment state of the art? Tests are done in a timely manner but I think we wait longer to get results. Follow ups range from every month to every 6 months with cat scans as needed.

Were your chemo drugs up to date? I had cisplatin which appears to be common.

What was the timeframe from initial Dx to the actual start of Tx? See above

Is your follow-up schedule acceptable to you? Very acceptable. Not only do I see all 3 doctors frequently, I know that if I ever have a concern I can get an appointment without a problem.

Eg. this most recent lump I discovered on Nov 14th - called Monday a.m. Nov 17th for Appt - Saw surgeon Weds 19th who did the fine needle biopsy that day. Cat scan was the Tuesday 25th (less than a week after appt) = got the results of all of this Dec 3rd. Even after those results surgeon decided to take the lump out so I had an office proceduure Dec 10th to remove the lump Is this longer than what you would expect???


I think the BIGGEST difference is waiting times. There is no doubt that we wait longer for test results and while I personally have had horrid experiences with pathologists, that could happen anyway. Incompetence resides on both sides of the border.


I believe in socialized medicine. I do not feel "more worthy" of care than my neighbour, but maybe that is just how we were brought up. Of all the "rights" that democracies tout, in MY PERSONAL VIEW - the right to medical care should rank well above some more controversial rights (eg to bear arms)


I remember once someone on this board posted that there were "no poor people in their chemo rooms". I cried. That just seems so wrong.

I have also seen people post about whether to bankrupt their family to get treatment. What a decision. I saw Minnie trying to raise funds for what she perceived to be quality care.

Personally, I would just hate to have to deal with financial issues at the same time as I was dealing with cancer.

I should also mention that we have all sorts of support networks that are free to cancer patients - psychosocial oncology, pharmacare which covers prescription costs (depending on your income - if you don't have a plan through work), free yoga for cancer patients, look good feel better programs, etc, etc, etc. There is also home care which came for weeks to do trach care and change dressings (after my first surgery) and a number of other "free" services.

And no, I am not naive. Our health care system is NOT free - we pay alot for it through our income taxes. Interesting point that the U.S. government pays MORE $$$/Person for health care than Canada does but still does not have socialized medicine. Guess thats what happens when you have a profit taking body involved.

And, to deal with the age old criticism of the Canadian health care system - YES, Virginia - there ARE more CancerCare centers in California than there are in all of Canada. There are also more PEOPLE in California than there are in Canada!

It kills me that my American friends are suffering to get health care - working until age of 66 when they shouldn't be to try to keep some coverage, having heart and other surgeries and ending up owing $10,000 which the hospital will deduct from her meager cheque at $50/week. Worse yet, the INSURER decided how long she could stay in the hospital after a main heart valve replacement and double bypass. That decision of theirs caused her to have an infection so severe in landed her back in the hospital for another 3 weeks.

No system is perfect. We are all prone to defend what we are comfortable with. Guess I am doing that, but thanks for listening.

I'll get off my soapbox now!!

Donna