Cancer patient receiving chemotherapy (Image by Freepik) For those of you not having the misfortune of experiencing chemotherapy, you may not know that chemotherapy is an outpatient process where you receive your treatment in a chair. At the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, where I get my treatment, this is called ‘chairs’. Today, as I wait…
The ‘bus’ in the subject line is not a typo. It’s an acknowledgement that chemo can leave you feeling more like you’ve been hit by a bus and you’re lying on the road rather than lying in a bed, even a hospital bed. My second round of chemo on November 1st caught me by surprise,…
One thing that kept me positive during hospital stays was a connection with people — from the doctors and nurses to housekeepers and security guards, to other patients, they all brought something special into my life. The big smile on the face of the security guard who grew up in a tiny village in Russia…
Other than the well-controlled asthma that I’ve had since I was a child and seasonal allergies, I haven’t been sick for 30 years. I hadn’t seen a doctor since before COVID when my family doctor closed his practice. This spring I set some health-related goals – go to the dentist, get my eyes checked and…
The second day I was in Michael Garron, my kids visited in the afternoon. That night about midnight, I got a call from my 14-year-old grandson, Caelan. “Jana, I’m at the hospital, where are you?” “Caelan, it’s midnight, they won’t let you in.” “Oh, I’m in,” he replied, “I just can’t remember the floor number.”…