Senior's cancer surgery cancelled during 4th wave, now given just months to live
CBC
In August, an MRI revealed the cancerous tumour on Anne LeBlanc's liver had returned.
On Oct. 5, the 76-year-old was in an Edmonton hospital for surgery. The IV was inserted and she was wheeled on a gurney toward the operating room.
At the doors to the OR, a nurse ran up to LeBlanc apologizing profusely as she told her the surgery had just been cancelled.
"This of course was due to not having a bed in ICU because at the time all the ICU beds were taken up by COVID patients," Suzanne Marley, LeBlanc's daughter, told CBC News Thursday.
Her mother was assured she was a high-priority case and that she would be called to reschedule as soon as a bed was available, Marley said.
The call never came.
On Thursday, LeBlanc had an appointment with an oncologist at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. He had looked at the MRI taken a few days before the scheduled surgery in October which showed multiple tumours on her liver.
"The doctor told her that really her disease had progressed too far and there was nothing they could do," Marley said. "The doctor suggested she just go home and enjoy the remaining time that she has, which is at this point they're saying three to six months."
LeBlanc has fought cancer off and on over the last nine years and so far she's managed to defy doctors' predictions, Marley said.
"As stubborn as my mom is, and as positive and upbeat as she is, Mom is also feeling that this time ... it will probably be three to six months."
"Mom's just saying she hopes she makes it through December."
At least 15,000 surgeries were cancelled due to the pandemic's fourth wave this fall, said Alberta's health minister Jason Copping. He believes the surgical wait list has peaked at 81,600 cases.
Premier Jason Kenney's United Conservative government has been sharply criticized for easing public health restrictions in the summer just as the delta variant ramped up.
By September, hospitals had been pushed to the brink by soaring caseloads forcing Alberta Health Services to redeploy medical staff to deal with the health crisis, resulting in thousands of scheduled surgeries being cancelled.
Ontario legislation that mandated air conditioning in all resident rooms in long-term care (LTC) homes has saved dozens of lives, according to a new study.
Gusty winds, rapid fall in temperature prompt special weather statement for Waterloo region and area
The mid-week warmup in Waterloo region, Guelph and area will abruptly come to an end on Friday, Environment and Climate Change Canada warns.
Water in two more schools in the N.W.T. show lead levels above Health Canada's guidelines for drinking water, according to the territorial government.
Ontario's ethics watchdog says it will investigate whether the province's labour minister contravened any laws in his handling of a controversial training fund.
Mitchell Rose, the 32-year-old man charged with three counts of attempted murder in St. John’s, will spend the next month on the forensic unit of a psychiatric hospital.
Nearly eight years after Halifax sold the historic Khyber building in the hopes it could be revived, the municipality says the site has become a “threat to safety” — and is taking it back.
The New Brunswick government has a strategy for reducing chronic homelessness in the province by 40 per cent over the next three years, Housing Minister David Hickey said Thursday.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is stepping down.
A Winnipeg mother whose kids attend Winnipeg School Division schools says officials waited too long to let parents know classes would be cancelled on Thursday amid a winter blizzard that created dangerous road conditions across the city.
After one day of calm, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says a second Alberta clipper storm will begin to hit western Saskatchewan early Friday morning.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is increasing how much it costs to apply for a citizen-initiated referendum by 5,000 per cent, saying it's about making sure applicants are serious.
A special unit established to solve cold cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people has solved the murder of a B.C. man in Washington State nearly a decade ago.
A judge ruled Thursday to remove an injunction in place since the summer against Alberta's law prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth.