Here I Sit at the Cancer Clinic and The Scammers

Thus is not a “true” scam sign just a picture of a random parking sign

Here I sit outside of the Cancer building in Edmonton waiting for my turn to go in to see the doctor.

I was here last week too, getting a PET scan. .Last week I was truly feeling like cattle being pushed through, man it is a busy place. Everyone was nice enough but it was strictly business and no personal questions or talk. It really hit me how busy that place is and how impersonal. I have to clarify this is not true of my doctor there, I am blessed to have an amazing one! It is more the peripheral services.

To get a scan you are placed in a room separated by curtain drapes and 4 recliner chairs hiding behind each one. They put the radioactive contrast in you and leave you alone to be peaceful for one hour. No phone or book or anything. They rotate through those 4 people every 25-30 minutes. So there is always someone coming in and talking to the new person or someone taking the next person out for their scan. It is not really a napping space except a dear older lady who managed to nod off complete with sleep talking, but no other chatter.

You go to the next phase and climb on to the big metal tunnel scan machine and are told to lay still it will take 25 minutes. They strap you in with a Velcro band around your middle so you can’t move. You could still move your feet or head if you wanted to but you would wreck the scan. I know at another hospital when I had this they strapped my feet and my middle down, getting very straight jacket-ie. Again you are left alone trying to hold still while the machine moves you back and forth. It is a experience that leaves you feeling very isolated.

I imagine all the staff here at the clinic have had to insulate their hearts. This is the cancer place and they must loose many and save many. I people watched a bit and there are so many hurting people there, sometimes you feel their hopelessness. My heart goes out to them and I am thankful for the lovely volunteers who are all over guiding people around the building. They also bring snacks….

As you are sitting there waiting for your turn, it’s awfully quiet and it’s quiet in the one hour waiting room and very quiet in the big scan tunnel. But last time I met Jackie out in the waiting room. She was with her sister who was going through treatments. Jackie lives in England and she was a delightful distraction.

As we started to chat I realized it felt awkward to have a face to face with someone at the hospital. No one usually talks to each other. I imagine we are each in our own minds or pain wondering about the “what if’s” or “what’s next?”people are very ill there.

Jackie and I had a wonderful chat, she seemed oblivious that no one else in the waiting room was talking.

Oh the very worst thing about the waiting room was they ask you how much you weigh and you are to blurt it out, if you don’t know you step on the scale right there. The scale stands between 2 chairs that are full of people waiting. Then you are to proceed to announce the number! Well good grief I waited until I was in whisper distance to say it, no announcing to the world for me.

On another note …my son Ray was on vacation in Vancouver a few weeks back, he called me to worn me about parking in Edmonton. I guess when he was in Vancouver his credit card number got stolen. His card was cancelled and he had to wait for them to pop a new one in the mail not a great holiday with no card.

What happened was the parking lots in many big cities have a pay system where you connect with the parking place by phone and buy your spot with a credit card. He saw the sign and did as instructed and until his credit card company called him, he had no idea someone had his number.

What these tricky scammers are doing is they make signs that look very close to the legitimate pay parking signs except they put their own number on it not the parking lot folks.

He told me to watch out in Edmonton and I think I saw this… I had pulled over to park on a side road. I saw the free parking 2 hours sign so I pulled in. On my way back to the car however I saw another sign facing the other direction that told me how I could pay via my card…. for my free parking. If Ray had not told me I would not have been watching for it. Unreal what scammers are doing so watch out if you are parking in the city.

In my appointment with my amazing doctor, he told me I am still doing great and that there is still no sign of any cancer. That is a huge Praise God!

There are a couple tweaks that need to happen in other areas in my body, plus the vitiligo to deal with. He says around there, at the cancer hospital, the white skin patches are a kind of a badge of honor. They are permanent and mine are still moving around. That was sad news since I am not into thinking the same thing about the honor part, still very uncomfortable in my own skin. But I am working on it.

Interesting he clarified that even though I did not have “chemo “ he admitted the immune therapy is equally as hard on your body. I concur! It was no walk in the park.

I have been cleared for adventure… what adventures??? Well I cannot ruin the surprise but I am pretty sure you will hear all about it next month. 😊