She wasn't told she has cancer. She says that could have been a 'death sentence'

Five weeks after Cathy Croskery's right breast was biopsied for suspected cancer, she still hadn't received the results.

She figured that was good news. It wasn't.

The 58-year-old mother and wife eventually discovered she has invasive carcinoma, but had to track down that diagnosis herself.

Croskery doesn't have a family doctor. She said that led to barriers getting into the system and a breakdown in communication in receiving test results that would ultimately land her in an operating room for a lumpectomy days after finally receiving them.

"If I had kept going, 'No news is good news,' where would I be?" said Croskery, who lives in Middle Sackville, N.S., but is originally from Burlington, Ont. 

"That's a death sentence for a lot of people."

Experts say Croskery's case underscores that the province still has work to do to ensure better co-ordination within the health-care system, with the well-being of the patients it serves at stake.

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Health says it is making progress on connecting the roughly 95,000 Nova Scotians on its need-a-family-practice registry with primary care providers, but recognizes challenges remain for those who still don't have someone to turn to when their health deteriorates.

Croskery said she started to notice new pressure in her right breast in early 2023. She had previously had a sebaceous cyst in the same breast in 2018, so she figured it was acting up.

When the pain worsened and she felt a lump in September 2024, she knew it was time to have it checked.

Without a family doctor, she wasn't sure where to turn. She called the Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program, but they told her the program is for screening only. Since she had felt a lump, she'd need a referral from a doctor for a diagnostic mammogram.

She tried to get an appointment at a walk-in clinic, arriving 30 minutes early two days in a row, but she was turned away due to capacity issues each time.

Croskery then tried the provinces' VirtualCareNS system, which connects patients to a family physician through the online platform Maple. Twice her sessions timed out without her seeing a doctor.

She was connected on the third try, but the doctor told her that type of referral fell outside of their scope as a virtual care provider and told her to go to Cobequid Community Health Centre.