Back to the land of the cancer updates. Like I ever really left, eh!
After last week's appointment with the surgeon, where she explained the pathology reports and expressed concern that the little devil cancer cells might already growing back on my poor abused tongue, I met with a bunch of other folks. And, this got me thinking about the little health care village that I have around me. Much like the village that Hillary Clinton talked about to raise a child, this village is apparently needed to drive out a cancer.
My village has three separate little communities. My regular health care community, the GP and dentist that I feel fortunate to have. I was so touched that my GP reached out to me not just once but twice to express her sadness at my diagnosis and to ask me to let her know if there was anything she could do. Then, my dentist, who first sounded the alarm at the innocuous white spot, and then gave me a hug and very reassuring words when I went to pick them up uber detailed package of records she had prepared for the new 'cancer' dentist to review.
Next community, is the BIG C community or my slash and burn group, as I like to call them. They wield the scalpels, they plan the radiation treatments, they run the chemo trials. They include the surgeon who sliced open my tongue and scooped out the cancer (the cancer that is hopefully not already making an encore performance - more on that later! Or hopefully, nothing to tell about that later!!). Her very sweet administrative assistant who makes sure that the forms are filled out, and that appointments are remade even when the other arm of the hospital messes them up. My new radiation oncologist, who I hope knows what he is doing and recommended 6.5 weeks of radiation, all the while being VERY frank about the risks and side effects. Although I did wish for a bit of sugar coating here and there. We can add in the nurse assigned to my case, the chemo clinical trial nurse and the physiotherapist, who I have yet to met but hope to meet with sooner rather than later. I would eventually like to be able to wash my hair with two hands!! And, we can't forget the hospital dentist, she who isn't much of a believer in my unhappy, doesn't like to open, already abused before the 5 hour surgery, jaw. Her job is to fix my teeth up so that they are as ready as they can be for the assault of radiation. Although it's hard to ask a dentist to sugar coat information, the little tidbit that sometimes jaw bones can break if there are issues with your teeth after radiation, GULP, was yet another eyes wide, mouth shut moment in this journey.
My last little community is a more holistic little group that I stumbled upon and am very happy to have found. The Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre (http://www.oicc.ca/en) are a group that consists of naturpaths, nutritionists, psychologists, massage therapists, acupuncturists and more, who assess the whole person, and look beyond the cancer to try and help the person coping with cancer to rebalance their bodies and their lives. Oh, and of course, manage the cancer ordeal to have the best possible outcome. From the young and kind naturpath who made me eliminate coca cola, that sugary, tasty bubbly staple of my mid-mornings, to the Australian nutritionist who seemed to instantly see the stress that I have been trying to cope with, and discussed its affects on me as a whole, their calm and kind approach has been inspiring. Teaching me about my beleaguered adrenal system, and instead of making me feel guilty about all the things that I haven't been doing for myself, they are nudging me towards taking better care of myself.
These little steps, making better protein shakes, taking some little capsules of vitamins that are proven to aid in the prevention of cancer, or that help manage the side effects of radiation, makes me feel like I'm being proactive, that I am part of my own treatment. While I would infinitely prefer to not need this village, to never need to visit the Cancer Centre, to have never heard of the OICC, I'm glad that they are there to help me through.
Special Note: I just found the video above on the OICC site, I have to say the last half is too much of an advert for my taste, but the start of the video, that hits home.