Support in the system

I am very lucky to live in Alberta, Canada.  We have great support services here and most of them are free - as I mentioned before, we pay for health care through our taxes and when you need health care, it's then free.  I thank my lucky stars for that. 

Even my surgeon was great in terms of appointments.  I never had to wait past my appointment time and he was efficient in his appointments, so that we talked about what we needed to talk about and I was on my way. 

The first service that has started in our health region - well, it started a few years ago but was not around when I had my first bout 15 years ago - is a position called a "nurse navigator". 

The nurse navigator is the "go-to" person for questions.  My person worked out of the Breast Health Clinic nearby and most of the time, I have just phoned her with my questions.  She has copies of all of my medical reports, so she knows exactly what is going on.  She is a nurse who has worked as such for years, so she knows how to read these reports and knows how to answer my questions.  She doesn't have to go anywhere else for answers - she has answered anything I've asked.  This takes the onus off of the surgeon's nurse for answering questions, so that's a good thing. It also provides a central person who can help with questions of how to navigate the system, what symptoms are of concern or of no concern,  what other resources are available - she's terrific.  And she has either answered the phone when I called or has called me back within 1/2 day - so there is no waiting and stewing about a concern.

Another service I have used is the clinic psychologist - another wonderful woman who I have talked to a few times.  For a week, I was out of the province, so we even chatted by phone for our appointment!  I don't know if there is a limit to the number of sessions I can have - I assume so but haven't asked that question.  What I do know is that she was pivotal in helping me to reframe the whole situation and to be in a better head space about it all.  I credit her with the fairly decent place I'm at right now.  You have to click with any practitioner you have, and we just clicked.  As I mentioned, getting my head around this whole situation will be addressed in another post. 

There are also free workshops that are available.  There are 2-hour workshops, "Before Breast Surgery" and "After Breast Surgery".  There are sessions for cancer patients generally on exercising, and a program for breast cancer patients specifically for exercising.  If you develop lymphedema, there are resources for that, as well as free physiotherapy sessions.  There's a very reduced rate for yoga classes, financial assistance for prosthesis and free financial counselling and advice.  There are probably more sessions that I don't know about yet.  We truly are lucky.

Another resource that we have in some places in Canada is a place called Wellspring.  This is an amazingly warm, welcoming place that has lots of programs and services - classes for art, exercise, drumming, QiGong, creative journaling, resume writing and back to work workshops, photo walks, to name just a few.  And all of it is free.