Chapter 20
Every cancer journey will come with its share of battles. You learn pretty quickly you’ll need to roll with the punches and there will be many punches. When you get knocked down you need to get right back up. It’s not so much about winning the battles; it’s about winning the war that counts in the big picture.
One of my biggest battles began three days prior to my second Folfox cycle.
On Tuesday my left forearm started to ache. It felt as if I had blocked a slapshot on my bare arm. The pain progressively got worse as it started to swell up and was hot to the touch. I assumed it might be a bit of infection from my PICC line. I had read that infections were common in the same arm where a PICC line is installed. I figured I would have Heidi look at it on her Thursday visit.
Heidi originally thought it was an infection also. By the time she arrived, it had not gotten any better if anything it was worse. Since I was seeing Dr. N the following day, Heidi thought I should have it checked while at the RVH.
I agreed, it made perfect sense to me.
Late that afternoon Heidi called; my arm had been on her mind since she left my condo that morning and it was bugging her. She now thought it possibly could be a blood clot developing which potentially could be very serious. She urged me to go to the RVH Emergency ASAP to have it looked at.
Sherry and I drove to the RVH, which is fifty miles from Bracebridge.
As good as our health system in Ontario is, it takes just one trip to an Emergency ward at a major hospital to realize just how inept the system really can be. Emergency wards are always crowded with waiting rooms full of patients.
Most of them probably should be there, but many others should not. They are wasting valuable healthcare resources for what amounts to nothing more than the flu or head cold sniffles.
No hypochondriacs are turned away from Emergency.
Even our visit to the Emergency in Bracebridge to have those three leaking staples removed saw us waiting close to three hours. Our actual time spent with a doctor was less than fifteen minutes on that afternoon.
Once we arrived the triage nurse at the RVH had already accessed whatever was going on with my arm was indeed serious and needed to be checked out that evening. I was told I’d be getting an ultrasound.
I guess it wasn’t that serious afterall.
On Tuesday my left forearm started to ache. It felt as if I had blocked a slapshot on my bare arm. The pain progressively got worse as it started to swell up and was hot to the touch. I assumed it might be a bit of infection from my PICC line. I had read that infections were common in the same arm where a PICC line is installed. I figured I would have Heidi look at it on her Thursday visit.
Heidi originally thought it was an infection also. By the time she arrived, it had not gotten any better if anything it was worse. Since I was seeing Dr. N the following day, Heidi thought I should have it checked while at the RVH.
I agreed, it made perfect sense to me.
Late that afternoon Heidi called; my arm had been on her mind since she left my condo that morning and it was bugging her. She now thought it possibly could be a blood clot developing which potentially could be very serious. She urged me to go to the RVH Emergency ASAP to have it looked at.
Sherry and I drove to the RVH, which is fifty miles from Bracebridge.
As good as our health system in Ontario is, it takes just one trip to an Emergency ward at a major hospital to realize just how inept the system really can be. Emergency wards are always crowded with waiting rooms full of patients.
Most of them probably should be there, but many others should not. They are wasting valuable healthcare resources for what amounts to nothing more than the flu or head cold sniffles.
No hypochondriacs are turned away from Emergency.
Even our visit to the Emergency in Bracebridge to have those three leaking staples removed saw us waiting close to three hours. Our actual time spent with a doctor was less than fifteen minutes on that afternoon.
Once we arrived the triage nurse at the RVH had already accessed whatever was going on with my arm was indeed serious and needed to be checked out that evening. I was told I’d be getting an ultrasound.
I guess it wasn’t that serious afterall.
We waited for over four hours, only to find out at 11 pm when we finally saw the doctor that the Imaging dept. had closed at 10 pm.
What a joke and fuck’n waste of time.
I was sent back home to complete the hundred mile round trip. My swollen, painful and now even hotter to the touch arm kept me awake for most of that night.
Dr. N seemed very concerned when we had our consultation on Friday morning. She too also assumed it was a blood clot developing. She ordered an ultrasound immediately. I walked over to the same Imaging Dept. that had been closed the night before and finally had my ultrasound. When I was finished I went upstairs to begin my chemo.
At about 2:30 pm I was sitting in the big recliner, the IV had just been connected when a message came from Dr. N. She had just gotten my ultrasound results and I did indeed have a blood clot. I now needed to immediately go downstairs to the Pharmacy and pick up a prescription she had already sent in for Fragmin, a blood thinner.
Everything was disconnected and I headed down to the Pharmacy. I was handed a small box of vials and another box of syringes. I was told that the rest of my script could be picked up in Bracebridge within a couple days.
I was then handed an invoice for just over $11,000.
Seriously, you’re kidding me right?
It seemed like a bit of overkill to me.
For me, the Fragmin would keep my blood clot from getting larger. It would also over time dissolve my clot and prevent any new clots from forming. Fragmin works by making thrombin inactive in the body. Thrombin is an ingredient that contributes to blood clotting.
The expensive Fragmin is used rather than other much cheaper blood thinners when a patient is receiving chemotherapy. Other blood thinners won’t work with Folfox and there are just too many potential side effects.
My total dosage would be one vial daily which I had to inject into my stomach. I needed to pinch a flabby part of my skin with one hand and inject the Fragmin with the other. I needed to do this for the next ninety days at a cost of just over a hundred bucks a day.
Well, that sure sucks.
I went back upstairs to get my first dose of Fragmin compliments of the Cancer Centre. While completing cycle number two my time was spent wondering how the hell I was going to pay the eleven grand invoice.
I figured I might have to sell one of my prized Wayne Gretzky rookie cards.
And, that sure sucks also.
As it turns out the Fragmin cost was covered by Homecare.
What a joke and fuck’n waste of time.
I was sent back home to complete the hundred mile round trip. My swollen, painful and now even hotter to the touch arm kept me awake for most of that night.
Dr. N seemed very concerned when we had our consultation on Friday morning. She too also assumed it was a blood clot developing. She ordered an ultrasound immediately. I walked over to the same Imaging Dept. that had been closed the night before and finally had my ultrasound. When I was finished I went upstairs to begin my chemo.
At about 2:30 pm I was sitting in the big recliner, the IV had just been connected when a message came from Dr. N. She had just gotten my ultrasound results and I did indeed have a blood clot. I now needed to immediately go downstairs to the Pharmacy and pick up a prescription she had already sent in for Fragmin, a blood thinner.
Everything was disconnected and I headed down to the Pharmacy. I was handed a small box of vials and another box of syringes. I was told that the rest of my script could be picked up in Bracebridge within a couple days.
I was then handed an invoice for just over $11,000.
Seriously, you’re kidding me right?
It seemed like a bit of overkill to me.
For me, the Fragmin would keep my blood clot from getting larger. It would also over time dissolve my clot and prevent any new clots from forming. Fragmin works by making thrombin inactive in the body. Thrombin is an ingredient that contributes to blood clotting.
The expensive Fragmin is used rather than other much cheaper blood thinners when a patient is receiving chemotherapy. Other blood thinners won’t work with Folfox and there are just too many potential side effects.
My total dosage would be one vial daily which I had to inject into my stomach. I needed to pinch a flabby part of my skin with one hand and inject the Fragmin with the other. I needed to do this for the next ninety days at a cost of just over a hundred bucks a day.
Well, that sure sucks.
I went back upstairs to get my first dose of Fragmin compliments of the Cancer Centre. While completing cycle number two my time was spent wondering how the hell I was going to pay the eleven grand invoice.
I figured I might have to sell one of my prized Wayne Gretzky rookie cards.
And, that sure sucks also.
As it turns out the Fragmin cost was covered by Homecare.
I have no idea why it was covered and I was not about to question their decision, risking them changing their mind. I have no health benefits with my employer. All healthcare related to cancer including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy is covered by the Ontario Ministry of Health's publicly funded system. All citizens in the Province of Ontario are covered and every citizen is issued a Provincial photo ID card. Prescriptions though are not covered unless you are sixty-five years old and over. I was still twelve years away from those freebies. Homecare did indeed pay the Fragmin invoice; it did not cost me a cent.
Even on the Ontario Trillium health plan, I still would’ve had to pay at least a third of the cost.
What a huge weight off my mind and my wallet. Thank you Homecare.
With my second cycle completed, I headed back to Sherry’s house for the weekend. I would be back in a couple days for my chemo bottle disconnect.
Even on the Ontario Trillium health plan, I still would’ve had to pay at least a third of the cost.
What a huge weight off my mind and my wallet. Thank you Homecare.
With my second cycle completed, I headed back to Sherry’s house for the weekend. I would be back in a couple days for my chemo bottle disconnect.
Over the past couple of days, I had seen both the good and bad sides of our healthcare system firsthand. The bad side was the overcrowded, understaffed Emergency wards. The good side was the realization I was not going to go broke fighting cancer.
However, it was suggested I purchase an electric razor. I couldn’t risk a shaving nick while on the Fragmin because my blood would not clot. I had a vision of me nicking my neck while shaving after my nightly shower and Sherry finding me dead the next morning. I had bled to death in my own bed.
On our way home I bought an electric razor, it cost me fifty bucks.
Fifty bucks won’t break me.
However, it was suggested I purchase an electric razor. I couldn’t risk a shaving nick while on the Fragmin because my blood would not clot. I had a vision of me nicking my neck while shaving after my nightly shower and Sherry finding me dead the next morning. I had bled to death in my own bed.
On our way home I bought an electric razor, it cost me fifty bucks.
Fifty bucks won’t break me.