Under the care of my Family Doctor and Oral Surgeon this well insured individual would have died...I trusted them...I trusted them with my life and I was wrong to do so. Following their lead was going to put me in the funeral parlor...I was too young for OC!! Yea RIGHT.

Gary, Yes I agree, My ENT got the job done. No slack on his part at the beginning at all.

Jim, I will do that soon. Thanks, Angel

I am going to be a little mouse who will no doubt be squished...but I feel like even though there are some glitches and it is still the fact that if you have money you can get better treatment, medicines, and care. For the most part I was surprised at the speed of my treatment. I thought it was a little long but I was diagnosed in June and biopsy in July seen by London Cancer Center two days after results from biopsy came in (August) surgery by September 8. I only have trouble with the fact that follow up scans are not done unless "warranted". The nurses that came to my home when I was released from hospital were wonderful. Brought free samples of ensure and a few other brands and all my wound dressings were covered. Payment for coverage is determined by income which kinda makes sense to me. Takes a bit of the burden off of taxes. I am not into politics and such but know that it may not be the best system and yes the wait times in emergency can be horrific. But then if you have seen the bucket list even though it was a movie money or no money sickness is sickness. Death is death and you can't buy your way out of it.

I wasn't much of a news-follower before my first cancer, but it's really on the back burner now (Except when something interesting like the Guv'nor Bagman fiasco comes out!) because it's just not very important in the great scheme of things, esp because there's very little I can do about it -- I have better things to worry about <grinz>.

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

We're on the same page Ray!

Even being told it probably wasn't cancer.

Donna, my objective is to have an open mind here. I don't think thare is an easy solution for the medical coverage issue, especially with the baby boomers arriving in the millions. In the US, Kaiser Permanente is struggling to build new cancer centers to accomodate us - just like they had to build new birthing centers in the late 40's.

I agree - there is no easy answer to the medical systems in either of our countries. Sometimes even throwing more $$$ at a problem doesn't fix it.

I am very hopeful that my good friends who struggle to deal with co-pays or God forbid, NO insurance, find some relief. It is one of my strongest held beliefs that I am no more worthy of health care than my neighbour - regardless of my financial ability to pay - or lack thereof!

I know our CancerCare system is also going to bend and severely strain under the weight of the baby boomers. Our H & N Support Group once had the CEO of CancerCare speak at our monthly meeting - by the end of it I almost said "whew, I'm so GLAD I got cancer NOW!!!"

Donna

This is one of the reasons, I suspect that they are reluctant to order additional scans and tests specifically not in the NCCN guidelines. My MO and I have had many philosophical discussions about this - such as the cost of saving someone for a few years and denying medical intervention for a person who may survive much longer. There may end up being a triage system or even lottery system if the demands get large enough on the system. They already have it for transplants.

We are very lucky that we went through this now. The later "boomers" seem to have the short end of the stick.

Gary,

Unfortunately, our page is a little crowded. Imagine those with insufficient to no coverage and how they are treated. Or, what about those that are dropped before treatments are finished--with follow-ups we all know that it lasts a lifetime.

Donna,

You explained your health care system very well and I assume that both sides have a fair amount of success and failures. I've always believed in socialized medicine, I honestly can't see how any other way is possible. As I said before, I truly believe the U.S. will be forced into it. Having said that, it will get a lot worse then it gets better. Going bankrupt to live is just not morally right...Anyone with common sense and a heart knows that it's wrong. But, when the system enables you to do horrible acts there is a buffer between those that die or are disfigured and those that are in charge. Those that make the rules don't feel it, they don't see it. I sound like a communist but I'm not. I wish everyone had compassion...empathy can be a very good thing and it seems to be lacking.

I wonder how much pull doctors have in both systems? I assume that depends on the doctor. The ball didn't get rolling until I saw my ENT. I saw him on a Monday, made appointment with RO, PET scans on Tuesday, met my MO same Tuesday, biopsy and exploratory surgery that Wednesday(and yes my ENT had the PET scan results), my ENT told me it was cancer that Wednesday. Went over everything in detail the following Monday. My ENT's office scheduled every appointment with all other specialists (except dentistry). He directed the whole process. My GF who is in the health care industry said it was quite remarkable...that her own father didn't get that kind of treatment at a major cancer center. According to a nurse I talked to, she said my ENT seems to be the "Cancer Guy" in his practice. The first time I met my RO he was with us for almost two hours going over everything in great detail, and that isn't including the time with his assistant and nurse. But with all that said, I don't know how I could have done it without my loved ones by my side.

I suppose if you have a lot of money and insurance you'll always have the best care in the world not matter what system is present. It's the average Joe/Jane that needs a helping hand.

I can't feel sorry for all those that opt to have no insurance. For instance I have an employee that has no medical insurance but affords to spend $20 EVERY DAY to play the Lottery. That would buy one hell of an insurance policy for a single person.