Ovarian Cancer and Cyst removal and Jail

January 26, 2015.

The Tale

Natalie called me on Sunday from her car phone as she was heading back to Toronto.
That is when I heard about the crash.  She called Karina and told her, and then she called Greg.  We had decided that since the plane crash had a happy ending, it might kind of dull news that we might have to tell him soon about ovarian cancer.  Everything was strictly on a 'need to know' basis, and since I was the one in charge of determining who needs to know what, when, I thought the plane crash story was way easier to digest than 'your daughter might be seriously ill'.

I told Natalie that I was waiting for the Cleveland Clinic appoinment call, so on Monday her task was to run around Toronto and get a copy of the MRI and test results from the various offices and get her medical file ready to take with us.  Monday arrived, and I was fiendishly checking my e-mail looking for that appointment.  At four o'clock a terrific thunderstorm rolled in and knocked out our satellite and power, and I was not in the habit at that time, to check my cell phone for e-mails, so I missed the message that came through, and on Tuesday morning when I checked my computer I was in another panic,

"You have an appointment today at 11:00," the message read.

  There was no way we could make that.  I wanted to cry, I missed my chance, and Natalie had that surgery booked for September 3rd!  I no sooner put the phone down after calling to cancel the 11:00 AM appointment, when the phone rang.  It was Karina's orthopaedic surgeon from the Cleveland Clinic.  I had called his office on Friday when I was having my anxiety attack waiting to hear back from global patient services, thinking that maybe he could somehow be able to help.  On the previous Friday, I ended up speaking to his secretary since the doctor was not available.  She took down my name and number, and cautioned me that the doctor was not connected to womens' health but she would pass on my message.  You gotta love the good people at the Cleveland Clinic, she passed the message on, and now the doc was calling me back!

I told the good doctor about my other daughter, and the appointment we just missed, and the good doctor said, "Leave it with me, I will se what I can do".

Natalie hurried home and now we both waited for that phone to ring.  At four o'clock the good doctor called and asked if we could be in Cleveland that night.  He had arranged for Dr. Eagle to see Natalie tomorrow, but the appointment would actually have to be made through global patient services.  That meant that Natalie would have to call first thing on Wednesday, 7:30 AM and since we would be in Cleveland we would be ready to go anytime we were told.

Perfect.  We flew to Cleveland.  The pilots gave us a hug, they knew this was a secret mission and not to tell Greg, and it was agreed that they would wait to hear back from us.  They returned to Canada.  We drove into downtown and checked into the Ritz hotel.  Wednesday morning, Natalie called Global Patients Services.  At 9:00 AM we found out that Dr. Eagle would see Natalie at 1:45PM.
We did a test drive to the Clinic, as I did not want anything to mess this up, I had never been to the main campus and I had never driven in Cleveland.

We did the check in, then we went to the proper department and at 1:45 Natalie's name was called out.  I saw a doctor go into go into the exam room and so I knew that must be Dr. Eagle   Later, I saw him enter the area marked "Oncology".
A really horrible time.

Shortly later, Dr. Eagle beckoned me and I joined Natalie in the exam room.  Dr. Eagel was calm and cool.  After he gave me a brief explanation of the possible diagnosis, I told him that I was prepared to do the surgery in Cleveland. since he confirmed that he would be able to perform a laparoscopic procedure -  take a look, and then  immediately know if it was cancer, just as the Alabama GYN had told me.  This was the last diagnostic tool I was hoping existed.    Dr. Eagle said, "Let's see if we can do this tomorrow".

As it turned out, the surgery would be on Friday, Natalie checked in at 11:00 AM.  She had a 4 1/2 hour surgery, all laparoscopic, all benign and she was able to walk out of the hospital that night at 10:30 PM.  Way better than a four day stay in a hospital, six weeks of recovery and a permanent disfiguring scar.

At about 5:00 PM EST, when Dr. Eagle spoke to me after leaving the surgery room and giving me a quick briefing, when I knew that Natalie was fine, I called Greg and gave him the full Monty!  Greg was stunned and ecstatic.  I had to go over the story with him several times since he kept asking when exactly we knew what.  Natalie and I stayed in Cleveland over the weekend,  just incase of any complications ( Dr. Eagle's suggestion).  There were no complications.  They never happened, probably because Dr. Eagle was the physician who invented the laparoscopic removal of ovarian cysts years earlier and had performed over 10,000 similar operations.
As it turned out, Natalie's mass did not even involve her ovary.  Praise the Lord for getting two key peices of advice - 'avoid the scar if you can', and 'go to a bigger centre'!  On Monday we headed home.

I could dedicate many pages on this subject, but the purpose of the blog is to fucus on false accusations, jail and injustice, not health issues.  Natalie called the Toronto hospital to cancel her September 3rd surgery and left a voice message.  There was an immediate response, concern that she was cancelling a surgery,

"I am not cancelling because I don't want the surgery," Natalie explained " I am cancelling because I don't need the surgery.  I had everything taken care of at Cleveland Clinic, and my surgery was all done laparoscopically".  The Canadian surgeon was not interested, not was the head of the department interested in seeing the post-op report.  Natalie was willing to share her records in the hope that someone else might benefit, but alas there was no interest.

And that is how I learned that Cleveland Clinic really is a great place.