Gone Boobie Gone.

This Ain’t No Boo-Hoo to a Boobie Gone Bye-Bye …

As Joss Stone may sing that she’s bruised but not broken, so too, am I not broken.  See her short video: Joss Stone Bruised but Not Broken.

This is a personal experience of breast cancer … and especially as it relates to Canada’s health care system.

You should hopefully not find me feeling sorry for myself throughout these blog pages … I occasionally have a pity-party in private, but hey, I’m allowed … I liked my twin girls and now the other is an only child!

If I haven’t said this elsewhere … If you have a painful lump in your breast (mine was near the areola), don’t ignore it!!

Please, please, have the lump checked. Your doctor may very well say the same thing as mine and think it’s a blocked duct, a cyst or an infection — after taking anti-infammatory drugs and antibiotics, the pain never went away, and so I kept going back to the doctor.

I initially wanted to title this blog: “If Canada’s Health Care System is so Good, Why Does it Suck so Bad?” Other titles included “Where is the Love: My Journey into the Healthcare System through Breast Cancer” … well, you get the picture … Canada’s healthcare system isn’t as great as many preach. I’ll get into the details soon.

Our health care is fabulous if you don’t need it … or if you only need it occasionally for an annual check-up with a family doctor.

I turned 50 in July, 2008, had my annual mammogram in September, received a letter saying everything was normal, and 3-4 weeks later, a very painful lump appeared.

At first I thought I was hit in the boob with a tennis ball. I play tennis (not well, but that’s another story) and tend to become a moving target quite frequently.

Being the middle-aged techno-geek, I first turned to the internet and searched Google for information such as “painful lump in breast”. A link to a Google search gives you an idea of how nonchalant all the articles and medical information are, which is very deceiving and what drove me to start this blog so other men and women will know that a painful lump shouldn’t be ignored.

Wow, I thought … I’m in the clear … all articles and medical information I found online said no cancer. What a sigh of relief . A few weeks later, I did another search … and made an appointment with my family doctor (I’ll call her Dr. Ciara) in the interim as well … and found an article about something called “Inflammatory Breast Cancer”. Eek … the statistics were quite bad for it and the survival rate is poor.

In my head and before I see the doctor, I am already making plans for my early demise: oh the drama!

Thankfully, it was not Inflammatory Breast Cancer …