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What& #39;s it like to have a cancer scare in the middle of a pandemic? A (too?) personal thread: 1/n
Since last summer, I& #39;ve had off-and-on pain in my left foot. It felt muscular, or maybe like tendinitis, and walking around didn& #39;t hurt, so I figured it would go away. 2/n
In early February, there was a night where the throbbing pain wouldn& #39;t stop, so I went to my family doctor. To ensure I didn& #39;t have a stress fracture, he ordered an x-ray. 3/n
I got a call from my GP the next week saying the x-ray showed a & #39;lesion& #39; that was eating away at the bone. The doctor say "I don& #39;t want you to lose sleep over this" but couldn& #39;t say what it was, so naturally I lost sleep over it. 4/n
I mean, what do you think when you& #39;re told there& #39;s a lesion eating a bone in your foot? (I thought I might not get to see my kid grow up). The GP ordered a CT-scan & referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. The CT-scan was scheduled for March 18th, at the time over a month away. 5/n
There would be no appointment with the specialist until the CT-scan was done, so I had to sit on this vague and very scary information for over a month. 6/n
Remember, the CT-scan is scheduled for March 18th. By then, we were into this whole pandemic and self-isolation thing. The visit to the hospital was a tad more stressful as a result. But on the bright side, the diagnostic floor at the hospital was EMPTY... 7/n
The technicians were marvelling at how quiet it was. (I assumed MRIs and other scans were all being limited to & #39;important& #39; cases, which didn& #39;t make me feel much better about my situation). 8/n
Anyway, I get the CT-scan, and am told I& #39;d hear from the specialist for an appointment in 3-5 days. Those days go by. Another week goes by. I phone the specialist& #39;s office and... IT& #39;S *CLOSED* DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. Remember: there& #39;s a lesion eating a bone in my foot. 9/n
I call the GP& #39;s office. There isn& #39;t anything they can do but *FAX* a request for follow-up. (The specialist& #39;s voicemail service is FULL and not accepting new messages!!!). 10/n
Another week goes by. It& #39;s not until yesterday that I receive an email confirming an appointment for the next morning (i.e. this morning) at Grand River Hospital (where the specialist has been working during this crisis). 11/n
And so I met with the specialist today. The big relief is that he& #39;s extremely confident it& #39;s not cancer. He explained all the reasons it& #39;s not cancer. Of course they& #39;re not 100% sure until a surgery to remove the legion and test it, but he compared the odds to a lightning strike.
The CT-scan was pretty freaking. A computer-generated 3-D image of the bones of the feet. In the bone that leads up to the big toe, there& #39;s a kidney bean-sized hole where bone should be. At the midpoint of the bone 50% of the width is gone. 13/n
But the lesion is contained. And there& #39;s evidence it& #39;s been there a looong time (two of the reasons it& #39;s very unlikely to be cancer, apparently). So they& #39;re gonna operate in a couple of weeks. Might need a plate to shore up the bone. 14/n
So that& #39;s what I& #39;ve been going through the past two months. Other than my wife and a few close friends, no one knew. I didn& #39;t even tell my parents until today because I didn& #39;t want them to worry. And I wonder during this crisis how many people are going through the same or worse.
