A real brain tumor.A real story of Canadian Health Care. 4 DAYS after diagnosis tumor was removed.

[snagglepuss]

In June 2008 my 55 yr old brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Within 4 days of the diagnosis it was out. The 7 hour operation removed a golf ball size benign tumor located in the Cerebellum.

Cost: My brother opted for a semi-private room (2 beds in a room)so he paid 241.00 per night but had he chosen a regular ward (4 beds in a room) the cost would have been ZERO.


Contrary to misinformation about socialized health care, when a situation is critical treatment is swift.

Also this story shows the flexibility and patient empowerment in Canada's health.

Here's the full story but let me first say that every one in my family but me has had the same family doctor for 20 years. The guy IMO is a jerk and has proved himself incompetent a number of times and it infuriates me they go to him. People can change doctors at any time. Nobody is forced to have a doctor they don't like.

Anyway the worst thing about this doctor is that he seems to have a real dislike for my brother. It could be because my brother behaviour is sometimes sever ly affected by the anti-depressants he has taken his entire adult life.He sometimes isn't aware how he is being perceived and can appear highly arrogant.

Anyway my brother had been really ill for over a year and got progressively worse. He had to walk holding on to a wall because he was afraid of losing his balance and had to walk with a cane. It got to the point of falling over regularly and this idiotic doctor kept saying it was probably an ear infection. Last June after collapsing in middle of a street he again went to his doctor. So again his doctor said it was probably a ear infection and that if my brother wanted to see a specialist he'd have to wait about 8 months.

When my brother got home that day he somehow broke out of his drug induced apathy and decided to call specialists himself to find an earlier appointment. He explained to receptionist of the first specialist he called his symptoms and the alarmed receptionist said the doctor was off that day but she could schedule him for an appointment the next day. When he got there the doctor within minutes determined my brother had a tumor and arranged for an urgent MRI to be done the following day (Wed)and an appointment with a neurosurgeon. The scan revealed the tumor so my brother was scheduled for an operation for Thursday. On Wednesday night my brother collapsed and fell against the corner of a dresser so an ambulance was called as he couldn't get up and was bleeding profusely.

Normally an ambulance will take people to the nearest hospital however they agreed to take him to the hospital where he was scheduled for surgery the following day. My brother got stitches and stayed in the hospital, the following afternoon he had a 7 hour operation to remove the tumor.


Thanks to the wonderful care and after care he received he has had a complete recovery.


<edit for spelling>

[redqueen]

1. Glad your brother got such excellent and prompt attention.

And that he's recovered so well. :)

Thanks for helping to set the record straight.

That liar who is the darling of the right and of the M$M needs to be outed for the liar she is.

[snagglepuss]

3. Perhaps this smear campaign against socialzed health care will backfire

because it is such a blatant lie.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. k+r, good to hear your brother is doing well. n/t

[snagglepuss]

6. I've been debating whether to post this simply because I feel so sad for

people who don't get the kind of care available in Canada. Sometimes I think its better to let Americans think that Canada's system sucks because it might ease the burden that must accompany the constant worry about insurance cost and coverage.

[Jazzgirl]

11. I know several Canadians at work.

Right now he is back in Montreal for a few weeks working remotely. I have been talking to him about Canadian health care compared to what he gets in the US. He said it isn't perfect and there are much better models but at least nobody has to worry about care or losing everything to get well. One problem is not enough doctors or many doctors moving to the US to try and get the exorbitant salaries but overall, it is much more successful. It is being hobbled primarily because the right wing element wants it hobbled. He said it is still way better than what we have here.

[iverglas]

21. I know how you feel

It's why I didn't post in the thread by the DU member whose daughter had died because she was unable to get care for her hypertension - although I'd kinda like him to know that I saw his thread at 2:49 and I was back at my clinic by 3:15, having dragged my feet for a day already on my follow-up visit. (Yeah, walked in, because I have to wait to get on the actual patient list, and was seen in 20 minutes again.)

It feels like boasting, to talk about the three members of my immediate family who have had all the cancer care they could eat in the last 6 years, and how it has cost them not a dime, and my mum and siter are now on maintenance care (my dad's cancer had metastasized throughout his body before he had symptoms, so his six weeks of care were complete in every way, but hopeless).

But it's the best way to get the message across. It isn't an impossible dream. It's possible. We're the living proof.

[ColbertWatcher]

22. Posting this gives us something to look forward to. n/t

[lildreamer316]

30. Postings like this motivate me to work hard for a system of our own!

Yes, I look forward to it greatly.

[madaboutharry]

4. I am glad your brother is going to be o.k.

The truth is that a doctor should not let his personal feelings be known to a patient. I think it is unprofessional.

[snagglepuss]

7. It is unprofessional. It makes me sick just thinking about it. I'm trying to

convince him to change doctors.

[Spazito]

5. I am glad your brother is going to make a full recovery!

and thanks for posting this as it IS important to keep getting the truth out there about Canada's healthcare system. My family, as well, has always had great care and in a timely manner.

Recommended.

[snagglepuss]

8. I think the story also highlights the importance for Canadians to take responsibilty

for their health. I hear stories all the time of people simply going along with a treatment/opinion that clearly isn't right. The thing is that socialized health care doesn't ensure that every doc got an "A" in Med school. We are so lucky to be able to strike out on our own get a second opinion if our doctors drop the ball.

<edit spelling>

[Spazito]

19. Absolutely! I know a few people who were unsatisfied with their doctor and...

simply changed over to another one. We are fortunate we can do that with no interference at a bureaucratic level. It may take a bit of time to find another family doctor depending on where one lives but I know very few who didn't find one fairly soon.

[and-justice-for-all]

9. K&R..nt

[snagglepuss]

10. Something of an aside. That 's a great quote in your profile. Where's it from?

When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that's faith.
When facts change your mind, that's science.:applause:

[and-justice-for-all]

26. The sticker is from Evolvefish.com

and the quote is Ben Franklin.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

12. I'm not sure this is the best story about Canadian Health Care.

His private physician failed to diagnose a brain tumor despite ever worsening neurological symptoms for over a year. The main reason for this seems to be a bias against people with depression. Glad he is okay despite the efforts of his personal physician.

David

[iverglas]

14. none of which

has anything to do with the fact that his diagnosis led to immediate treatment, free of charge.

Do doctors in the US never dismiss patients who should not be dismissed, or misdiagnose?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

16. I think you must have posted in error. Since your post have nothing to do with my point.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. There are incompetent doctors in the U.S., too

There was a GP whom my parents patronized because he was a member of our church. He made so many bad decisions about members of our family, including completely misdiagnosing one of my brothers and putting him on a medication that caused hallucinations and balance problems (because his stomach cramps were NOT, in fact, caused by epilepsy).

Finally, after this GP insisted that a chronic problem my brother had was psychosomatic, my parents switched to a doctor in another town who figured out what caused the problem and what to do about it.

Yes, you have to be proactive. After all, SOMEBODY had to graduate at the bottom of the medical school class.

[snagglepuss]

31. What I thought this story reveals about Canadian health care is that

no one stuck with a particular doctor come hell or high water. The system is flexible, there aren't any bureaucrats dictating to patients. The irony is that there seems to be more bureaucratic invention in the US given the stories I hear about HMOs declining tests and followups that doctors deem are necessary.

[snagglepuss]

15. Socialized medicine doesn't ensure that every doctor got an A in Med school

Canadians aren't stuck with a doctor. People can change doctors whenever they want. They can get second opinions. My brother could have gone into a walk in clinic that same day to see a different primary care physician. I think this is an excellent example of the Canadian health care system because it shows the flexibility people have and the lack of red tape. It also shows that if a Primary physician drops a ball and doesn't schedule a specialist appointment a person can call specialists directly and if the situation warrants it an appointment can be arranged - absolutely no red tape.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

17. Those are certainly a few good points that can be taken from the story.

[snagglepuss]

20. Both Canada and the US have own share of bad and medicore doctors. Nobody has

the edge on that. Both systems require patients to be actively involved with their health care and not simply passively accept medical opinions when they don't make sense. Many Americans believe the propaganda that Canadians are restricted by red tape and government bureaucrats but that is just plain wrong and this is what I hoped would be evident from my brother's experience.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

23. Thanks for sharing. Glad your brother is okay.

[iverglas]

13. we'll all have problems sometimes, wherever we are

I finally switched from one community health clinic in Ontario to another last week. (I am committed to the community clinic model, but I was just fed up with the one I'd gone to for 30 years, which has become bureaucratized.)

And I didn't want to say in the thread in question - a DU member's daughter died of complications of hypertension a few days ago - but it got me off my ass and back this week for the follow-up on the blood tests to get me back on my proper BP meds regime. It ain't the system's fault if I don't do that.

My sister and mother have been in cancer treatment for the past 12 months. No problems, no complaints. They both had to go from their small town to the big city for daily radiation for a month - but there was a free shuttle bus from their regional hospital for the one-hour drive. Later this year, the regional hospital, where they had all their other treatments (chemo, surgery, diagnostic procedures) will have a complete radiation facility, to serve the exploding population.

I took my partner to ER two months ago, where he was admitted in minutes, in what turned out to be diabetic ketoacidosis on the verge of death. He had to go back three days later - as far as I'm concerned, they discharged him a day too early without stabilizing him, fine as he may have seemed. (There was a slight complication in that the DKA was brought on by flu, and his possibly infectious status was an impetus to discharge.) The second time, I just refused to take delivery, and they kept him two more days.

My dad had a little difficulty a few years ago getting his headache tended to. At the second visit to the neurology dept, referred the first time from ER, my mum did the same thing. She said she would sit in the ER until they did a CAT scan. So the neurology dept did. Turned out my dad had a subdural haematoma brought on by a roller coaster ride at Cedar Point. He then became the first reported roller coaster induced subdural haematoma in the medical literature. (NLJM - one similar case, subdural haematoma from shaking, without a blow, in a car crash, preceded him, but had not yet been written up.) Somebody has to be first, and you can't always expect that docs will know what they're looking at.

That was Friday; he had surgery to drain the haematoma, which was not growing, that Monday. On the Wednesday, still in hosp, he became seriously ill. He had surgery at midnight to do an intestinal bypass necessitated by the Crohn's disease he didn't know he had.

We can all go on and on, up here, about the life-saving and lesser treatment we have all received, free of charge. We can also bitch and moan, and we don't hesitate to. But we would sound like somebody complaining that they had no shoeslaces, to a lot of people south of the border!

[crickets]

18. I am so glad your brother recovered, and thank you for posting this. K&R -nt

[snagglepuss]

24. I hope if you encounter people who have believed RW propaganda about

socialized health care you can use this to educate them about Canada. There are wait times for some elective surgery like knee replacements but if a condition is urgent care is swift and excellent.

Let Americans know that Canadians arent streaming across the border to get their health care and niether are the doctors. We have lots of great doctors who are very happy with our health care system, doctors who are very happy with their autonomy and the freedom from HMOS.

[crickets]

25. Oh, I absolutely will. Thank you for sharing your story.

And I love your name, snagglepuss. Exit, stage left! ;)

[NMDemDist2]

27. as opposed to camping with cancer in the US

http://campingwithcancer.com/wordpress/

[snagglepuss]

29. Its hard to find words after reading his story. Its really shocking.

[NMDemDist2]

35. he's one of my oldest friends

I was able to go out there last Feb and help him get his home cleaned and organized.

it was truly shocking the conditions I found.

I didn't have $$$$ but I had time and his trust, so I could make his life easier for day to day chores.

America is an 'interesting' place......

[iverglas]

32. a former US resident living in Canada looks at our system

I have a separate thread about this, but I think it deserves more attention. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuVviiFXOC4

"This video was taped by an Amercian living in Canada to help disspell the myth being perpetrated by political ads in the U.S. about how bad the Canadian Health Care System is. This is false political advertising to attempt to defeat the efforts in the U.S. Congress to pass universal health care. The video is by William S. Bates. Major, USMC (Ret), Vietnam veteran of Ottawa, Ontario and is intended to provide a true picture of Canadian Health Care from a private user's perspective."

It's a link well sent to any friends and family who believe/spread the lies.

[reprehensor]

33. Bam.

Just like lickin' an ice cream cone.

[Quantess]

34. Thank you for posting this.

[tj2001]

36. Too civilized for America

Too much common sense