What was your wait time to surgery in Canada?

I'm in Vancouver. It took a bit for me to get all of the testing done for the diagnosis (something like 7 weeks, nobody seemed to be in a hurry), but once I was diagnosed, things moved more quickly. I was diagnosed on Nov. 22nd and had my lumpectomy on Dec. 14, that was the earliest they could fit me in.

Not normal at all. I waited a month and that included the Christmas holidays. Where in Canada are you

Oh forgot to say - I found out on a Monday but my family physician got the biopsy results on the Friday before & she personally spent that afternoon on the phone calling various oncology and breast surgeons' offices in the entire Lower Mainland of Vancouver and checking who had space in their operating room schedule. Her first choice couldn't even do the initial consult till 4 weeks later & then surgery would be another few weeks later and my GP said that was not acceptable so she just called and called until she found someone with earlier appointments.

So anyway, perhaps go back to your GP and say you need them to help you find a surgeon with faster OR availability so you can have your surgery within the 60 day window. I'd be willing to travel for it if necessary, kwim? If the slot had been a couple hours out in one of the suburbs, that would have been fine - just get that tumor out of there.

best wishes

Molly, it could be that based on your histological results and other findings, you are maybe in a lower-risk category. I believe that they do triage surgeries to some degree, so that someone who presents with a large, invasive, rapidly-growing, aggressive tumor may receive surgery more quickly than someone who has a slower-growing, less aggressive tumor. So it might actually indicate that you are in a more favorable category. But I am just speculating.

I know the waiting is agonizing, and I agree with the poster who said maybe a call to your doctor is in order. You could at least discuss your concerns and maybe he or she could give you an idea of why you are not scheduled for surgery sooner and give you some reassurance.

I’m familiar with Sunnybrook, the care is top notch there. Not sure why they make you wait so long, it doesn’t make sense. Can you talk to your family doctor?Maybe get referral to another hospital like North York General which is smaller and may be more efficient.

Personally I don't find anything as bad as waiting. As long as I am getting the treatment I need I can be OK with that, but long waits are excrutiating.

Molly, if you have your biopsy report, you can write it out & we can help you decipher it.

I would be faxing a letter to the surgeon's office with a copy of the studies I mentioned above & referring to the optimal times being within 60 days and asking for a faster surgical date. If you don't get a quick and acceptable reply, move it up to the patient ombudsman.

(I'm in the angry phase of my cancer 'journey' - barf, hate that word - & everything pisses me off all the time so if you need any rage filled but legal sounding letters written, I'm your gal )

Molly - going through the breast clinic I assume?

I am from MONTREAL diagnosed last January 9

Lumpectomy ... January 30

Re-excision... March 13

ONCOTYPEDX result... May 11 (score of 7)

Radio theraphy... started June 11 ( 15 whole breast rads and 4 boost total of 19 sessions) now on my 17th session 🙏

Hormonal theraphy (tamox) ... scheduled for August

Waiting is torture but hang in there and call your doctor why you hve to wait that long coz my BS put “ emergency” note in all my test appointments .

Good luck luck to you and praying that you’ll have the surgery soon

Molly I am sorry you are waiting so long! This is so worrying. I waited 7 weeks for my lumpectomy in Vancouver and that was too long for me.

I hate the word “journey” too. A journey should be FUN and this is not at all fun! My idea of a journey is going to the south of France.

I am glad you have a doc helping you. Keep up the pressure and let us know when you have your surgery date.

I see things haven’t changed since 2013. This is ridiculous!Your PCP might be helpful or a personal visit to the clinic if you can. The patient ‘experience’ lol office might be able to advocate for too:

Visit our office at the General site, room GSE 114 (ground floor east)
Tel: 416-756-6125
Fax: 416-756-6656
Email: patientexperience@nygh.on.ca

Molly, no I don’t sorry, I just went through treatment there in 2013. Have you seen an oncologist yet? Who is your breast surgeon at the clinic

The problem is for people who live out in the sticks like I do. It seems like referrals to get into the major Canadian Cancer Centers are very slow. I feel at this point, with my recent rapidly growing 40 X 30 mm subclavicular growth, which was termed "highly suspicious for pathology" upon ultrasound, and my history of breast cancer, my family doctor should have had least been in touch with an oncologist. Maybe I should be having some scans etc. But nothing.

It has already taken 4 weeks from my initial doctor's appointment to point out the lump, to just get the ultrasound guided biopsy appointment scheduled for July 13. Results take a week or two according to Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington.

If I do indeed have recurrence I would like to be referred to Juravinski. God only knows how long that will take. And then in Canada there seems to be this thing that centers can actually refuse you and insist you be treated at some local rinky dink center like where I live, Brantford General Hospital, where they have an oncology clinic where the oncologist comes there ONCE a week. That's not a cancer clinic, that's a joke. I had a family friend who went in there with pain, and was NEVER EVEN SEEN BY AN ONCOLOGIST FOR 3 1/2 WEEKS AND SHE DIED. She was killed by a blood clot generated by the original cancer tumor. It seems like in Canada cancer patients are not in control, but an inefficient system is. I'll just rent a studio apartment in Hamilton to get a Hamilton address if having a local address is the only way you can get cancer care at Juravinski.

I am actually more afraid of not getting the timely care I probably need than I am of the actual probable recurrence itself.

And when you get insistent with the staff here, which I view as advocating appropriately for myself since who else is going to, you get labelled as a rude and difficult patient. It's like you are bothering or inconveniencing them.