onward ho!

I finally got a call from the BC Cancer Agency, and I have an appointment for March 9, when I'll meet with oncologist Dr. Cheryl Ho and presumably be scheduled for further testing before a treatment strategy is decided.

Although my lung tumors proved to be squamous cell carcinoma, it's unknown what type/s lurk in my lymph nodes, spleen and bone marrow. I'm hoping for lymphoma.

Seriously, I want lymphoma (the easily-treatable kind with the great odds for success) to be the yet-unidentified cancer in my body. That would mean that the lung cancer isn't Stage IV, which would give me a much brighter prognosis. I've been looking for a t-shirt, "I want lymphoma," but haven't had any luck finding one.

The BC Cancer Agency is a superstore for cancer patients. Consults, testing and treatment, counseling for patients and their families, a resource library and even a lodge for affordable overnight stays (meals included!) for out-of-town patients. That's me, an out-of-town patient, but I'll be driving back home to my own bed if I can manage it.

I had my PET Scan (positron emission tomography) at the Cancer Agency, and it was all good until the very nice assistant decided to assist me with a firm, supportive arm around my waist.

I really wish someone had told her that my side was terribly sensitive, downright painful in fact, so she wouldn't have been subjected to my thoughtless but swift reaction of pulling back a fist and yelling, "Getyer fuckin hands offa me right now!" Intense pain does not improve my usually sunny disposition, and I'll be feeling badly about that one for a long time.

It was less than a month from the PET Scan that set off the alarm, "CANCER!" followed by surgery, and the subsequent biopsy results of squamous cell carcinoma. Pretty darn quick, and I was liking the pace. Now's is going to be almost another month between the biopsy results and a consult with an oncologist. Sigh. Hurry up and wait.

But, you may ask, why so long? Because the BC Cancer Agency's procedure includes "triage" on referrals, and it takes weeks. Triage? On referrals? If you're like me and know the definition of the word, you picture a stack of bleeding, gasping sheets of paper that have just been dragged in from a horrible accident out on the street.

Oncologists rush in to study these sheets of paper, deciding which ones get their attention (earlier appointments) and which are left for later appointments. Be glad that oncologists don't work in the ER.

The posters and t.v. ads always stress the importance of early detection in cancer. Silly me; I thought early detection implied early treatment, but it might mean that late detection results in no treatment at all... because the patient dies of old age before getting to see an oncologist.

Seriously though, I am impressed with the response of my general practitioner, Dr. Ingrey, and all medical professionals who have dealt with me in Vancouver since I've become a cancer patient. At no time in the process did I feel like a widget on the assembly line, no small feat because, in 2007, there were over 21,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed in the province of British Columbia alone.