WINTER IS STILL HERE, PARTICULARLY IN BUFFALO....

And So Are My Wife And I. Another Lesson Learned About The Standard Of Cancer Care In America.

As I was preparing to put suitcases in the car to go to the airport Saturday morning, a nagging 2-day long “ache” in my wife's ribcage turned into excruciating pain in her back and a trip to the local healthcare delivery monopoly’s Emergency Department.

Seven years ago when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer my wife traveled from her home in West Virginia to the Cancer Center at Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC for treatment. With loving care her oncologist proceeded to cut, burn, and poison her breast cancer out of her body which allowed him to declare her “cancer free”. Five years later, of course, it returned but this time in her bones which is why we now travel to the Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana, Mexico.

The introductory photograph is of an internal “adhesion”. Mary Cox, a Physical Therapist who specializes in adhesions writes that:

“Adhesions are fibrous bands of scar-like tissue that form as a result of tissue injury inside our bodies. The injured surface, structure or tissue becomes inflamed, thus depositing fibrin onto the damaged tissues, forming an internal scar if you will. Normally, internal tissues and organs have slippery surfaces so they can shift easily as the body moves. Adhesions cause tissues and organs to stick together.”

Principal causes of adhesions are surgery and radiation. A mastectomy followed by 27 radiation “treatments” is a sure winner in the adhesion forming race. Sometimes the adhesions will “break” causing acute pain. In my wife’s case simply turning — slightly— can cause that pain which usually and thankfully is of short duration. But Saturday Morning she pushed down on the pump of a lotion bottle and it caused such tremendous pain that her bodily response caused a “muscle strain”. “Muscle strain” is the official diagnosis for why we had the pleasure of meeting some very nice ED staff. The diagnosis of “muscle strain” is one that makes sense given her signs and symptoms.

There is no viable treatment for adhesions. Adhesions are caused by tissue trauma. Surgery is one such trauma and so surgery to remove the damage caused by surgery isn’t the solution. There are some physical therapists who are trained to break-up adhesions but that, of course, is only temporary.

The radiologist who read her CT scan on Saturday opined that her cancer had spread to her scapula, causing a fracture which may be the source of her mid-back and side pain. It is a good theory except for the fact that her shoulder fracture occurred more than a year ago and a PET scan performed just one week ago showed no evidence of cancer in her shoulder let alone a tumor large enough to cause a fracture. The PET scan report was, of course, available to the radiologist for review. He was apparently too busy to read it. This is just one more reason why I do not play nicely with radiologists.

My wife has been in bed since we returned from the Regional Healthcare Monopoly trying to get the “muscle strain” to resolve. We are still hopeful that by this weekend we can get her comfortably on a plane to San Diego, just 40 minutes from the Oasis of Hope.

And the reference to Buffalo? Last night’s football game between the Bills and the ‘Niners.

Lake effect snow is a thing of wonder.

For those of you who pray - thank you in advance.

Union, Kentucky
2 December 2024