Canadian Health Care

It depends where you are -- since you're in the TO area I assume they have a couple of PET scanners.

My understanding is that there are PET scans scattered around major areas.  However, my onc also says that there are too many false positives that lead to too many other tests.  In the case of mets there is no added benefit to finding and treating earlier than symptoms appear.  I know there are those whose opinions are different.  That is what my onc has told me and my research seems to support.

Woo hoo! Commen sense (which isn't so common) has shown up!

As for a PET, I asked my surgeon about them last year and he laughed! Said unless I was on a professional sports team or a celebrity I didn't have a chance of getting one. Sad to think....

Interrupting this health care discussion with a weather report: just heard from a Michigan friend whose wife is in a clinical trial at Johns Hopkins that they're stranded in Baltimore.  And another friend posted this as his Facebook status:

"What do people who buy 25 rolls of toilet tissue and 10 gallons of milk before a snow storm know that I don't? 20 years living in Washington and I still can't figure out why people become so unhinged over a snowstorm."

I do hope Layne and Enjoyful are well-provisioned!

Linda

I live in Barrie and would have to go to Toronto and there's too many "celebrities" down there...sigh. (Or patients with mets.)

If you need a PET, as in Mich's husband's aunt, you get one.  If you don't need one, you don't get one.  This is a good thing!  When I mentioned PET's to my onc he said up-front we practice according to evidence-based medicine...  Another good thing.  Medicine practiced according to evidence, not profit-making!  What a concept!!  I know I was over-tested while in the states -- it was unreal.  According to my good ol' Cdn morals I should have questioned the waste (I did to myself, not to my onc), the selfish part of me said why not, bring 'em on.  I'm thankful for the care I had in the US, but I'm very happy to be back in a more sensible, evidence-based system.

We posted together Elizabeth.

Don't get me wrong, my "bitching" is all tongue-in-cheek. Why do a PET if you know you already have something wrong? Doi.... AND then to have to follow up with MRIs and U/S and x-rays and CT's...doesn't make sense to little old me.

Get the mini brownies in a bag, not the mix.  What if your hydro goes out?

Whenever we stalk up for a storm water is the first thing on the list. Toilet paper?  I will have to consider that next time! 

Thankfully, our power rarely goes out because our lines are buried.  Now that I've said that, the power will go out.  Arrrrgh!  I didn't even think of water!

Good morning everyone!

If you can, get the Ghirardelli brownie mix (you can find it at Costco).  These brownies are heaven.  I don't bake them too often because they are impossible to resist!  

Yes, that is my little kitten in my picture.  She is such a brat!!  I have an older cat, and we were really worried about how the older cat would behave towards the kitten.  Ironically, we have to protect our older cat from the kitten.  The kitten is constantly jumping on our older cat or biting his legs  and ears. 

Hope everyone has enough toilet paper, milk and bread....lol 

Ladies,

What about the bone scans? My wife went to the radiologist (we thought we'll do rads) and he watched the same bone scan then told her she has extensive mets in the pelvic bone but then claimed the bone scan is not definite procedure so he ordered a CT without injection, only to see if she really needs rads. The CT came back almost clean, i.e. he could see spots near the hip sockets but said this is much better than the bone scan showed. So we'll not be doing rads after all. At least for a while.

Now, I have a friend at Canada Infoway, working in Manitoba hospitals. She said they took the bone scans off the scope because of their uncertainty. Is anybody aware of these limitations? Because I was convinced the bone scan is exact.

Take care,

Yan

P.S. Sorry for hijacking this funny weather-related thread

Linda,

In our circumstances I tend to believe the radiologist. He seems to be professional. Olga had her abdomen MRI too (two-three weeks ago) and it showed no significant mets to the pelvic bones. And given the fact her leg pain was almost gone after a week on Xeloda, the fresh CT doesn't lie.

At least, I hope so.

Yan.

For some reason ... I'm not able to post multiple pics.  arghh.

Sorry about the multiple posts!

The last pic is of my upper fields.

I'm eating Dove chocolate and having a cup of coffee.  Might be time to make some brownies and keep the choc fix going!

Bren