Elaine Foley and her husband rushed to RVH in Barrie for solutions, however the couple was devastated to get the information eight hours later’ ‘it was mind most cancers’
Whereas ready for an MRI, Elaine Foley shifts uncomfortably in her house recliner – certainly one of solely two locations the place she has barely a second of reduction from ache.
After being given a mind most cancers prognosis and two years to stay, the Wasaga Seaside resident would really like to have the ability to get an unrelated surgical procedure on her again to repair injury from an outdated damage and make these remaining years good ones.
The present provincial wait occasions for MRIs and surgical procedure could, nonetheless, imply her remaining time shall be spent struggling.
“I’m not going to be able to see my grandkids. I go from my room, to this chair, until I go back to my room or the bathroom,” Elaine mentioned. “It’s not the cancer that’s destroying my quality of life now.”
On Aug. 18, 2023, Elaine formally retired from a 35-year profession in corrections. On the finish of August, she had a sudden and sudden medical emergency.
She and her husband, Mike, rushed to Royal Victoria Regional Well being Centre (RVH) in Barrie for solutions. The couple was devastated to get the information eight hours later.
“I was trying to make something and I couldn’t turn on my appliances. I couldn’t make myself work. Mike thought I’d had a stroke,” mentioned Elaine.
“It was brain cancer.”
Extra particularly, lung most cancers had metastasized into Elaine’s lung, chest and mind. She was rushed to Toronto into surgical procedure to take away the most cancers, and eight days later the couple returned house.
Elaine began on radiation whereas she healed from the surgical procedure. Though she had some issues following her surgical procedure, the couple say their native physician has been “extraordinary.”
Elaine had been planning to lastly have surgical procedure on an outdated again damage she sustained 20 years in the past whereas at work that broken a disc and vertebrae in her decrease backbone.
“I was supposed to have had surgery on it many years ago, but I did not,” she mentioned. “So now, picking the most convenient time of my entire life, it (flared up) right before I retired. I managed to struggle through to retirement, when I thought I could be off my back for as long as I needed.”
Elaine had a preliminary MRI a number of months in the past on her again, however she says the physician wrote down the fallacious space to test on the kinds, so it’s vital for her to get one other on the proper space earlier than she will be suggested on surgical procedure.
“I had waited five months for that one. I applied for another MRI. We’re seriously considering going to Quebec and paying for it. But can I take that kind of a drive?” mentioned Elaine, noting it could value as a lot as $2,000 for the MRI in Quebec.
Based on Ontario Well being, the Ontario common for wait occasions for an MRI relies on severity, with priority-4 sufferers ready 88 days, priority-3 sufferers ready 28 days and priority-2 sufferers ready three days.
Based on the province, sufferers inside the priority-1 group are scanned instantly, and should not included in wait-time information.
The province units goal occasions primarily based on data from surgeons, specialists, and well being care directors, primarily based on scientific proof. Thirty-four per cent of Ontario sufferers have been scanned inside their group’s goal time.
In Simcoe County there are two choices for an MRI: RVH in Barrie has two scanners, whereas Orillia Troopers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) has one.
Based on information supplied by RVH, in 2023, the typical await an MRI at RVH was 103 days, whereas at OSMH, it was 49 days.
RVH performefd 22,000 MRIs in 2023, whereas OSMH carried out 9,000.
The provincial authorities introduced in late 2022 that they have been approving working funding for a brand new MRI lab at Collingwood Common and Marine Hospital, and the hospital’s basis managed to fundraise $5 million to pay for the machine and renovations as of December 2023.
Based on most up-to-date estimates from CEO and president of CGMH Mike Lacroix, they anticipate to have the brand new machine operational within the first quarter of 2025.
“That’s past the goalpost for Elaine,” mentioned Mike.
Even when Elaine have been in a position to get in to get an MRI and got a referral for her surgical procedure, the wait occasions for surgical procedure are additionally daunting.
Based on provincial information, the wait time from getting a referral to seeing a primary clinician for a spinal surgical procedure is 126 days for priority-4 sufferers, 90 days for priority-3 sufferers and 47 days for priority-2 sufferers. Inside this wait class, 73 per cent of sufferers are handled inside the goal time.
The time from choice to precise spinal surgical procedure is 164 days for priority-4 sufferers, 82 days for priority-3 sufferers and 85 days for priority-2 sufferers. Inside this wait class, 67 per cent of sufferers are handled inside the goal time.
Elaine says she’s been advised it may very well be upwards of a 13-month await her to get in for surgical procedure after she has the MRI.
“That’s not going to do anything for me either. I know there’s a line, and people have to wait. But I don’t have time to wait. Can they not make an exception?” she mentioned.
Whereas Elaine says the chemotherapy and radiation could make her really feel nauseous or drained, her again ache is debilitating. She at present takes 9 milligrams of morphine every day for her again with top-ups out there if she wants them simply to have the ability to transfer, which she mentioned she doesn’t need.
“I’m terrified of drugs because of what I’ve seen working in corrections. In my mind, it’s made me into a junkie,” she mentioned. “If I had known this, I would have had my surgery three years ago.”
Elaine and Mike want to see a health-care choice to be moved up on the provincial wait checklist because of compassionate grounds.
“Maybe talking about this will help other people down the road. What’s happening isn’t right. For Elaine to sit there in drugged agony waiting for the end… It could be better,” mentioned Mike.
On Friday, the Ontario and federal governments introduced a $3.1 billion settlement to enhance Ontario’s health-care system, a part of which guarantees to enhance entry to household docs, cut back wait occasions, rent extra health-care staff, and guarantee sooner look after Canadians.
“This will even assist cut back backlogs for surgical procedures and wait occasions in emergency rooms whereas bettering entry to look after sufferers with out a household physician, particularly in rural, distant, and underserved areas,” notes a provincial launch on the announcement.
And regardless of every little thing, Elaine stays optimistic.
“I’m blowing through that two-year mark. They can’t pick the day I’m going to die. I don’t believe that,” she mentioned. “I believe in my heart of hearts that my bus is going to keep going.”
