So for the last 18 months or so, I've been trying to get myself an appointment for a mammogram. My mother's sister got breast cancer at age 37, and died when I was 15 and she was 47. My grandmother had breast cancer, my mother's other sister had a female internal organ cancer. Mum's doctor told her that she should tell me, because of family history, to get a baseline mammogram at age 40.
So I went to the health centre around the time I turned 40, and asked (nicely) for a referral. My plan was to get it done while I was in Alberta on holiday. At first that was going well, and the nurse I saw said it shouldn't be a problem for me to get one. Then a week later I got a nasty phone call from someone else, saying that I wasn't eligible for 'medical travel' because mammograms were not covered until women are 50. I said, no, I don't want a trip, I'm going anyway, I just need a referral. There was silence for a while, and eventually I visited, and was told I couldn't even get a referral until I was 50. That's the rules.
So this spring when I went for my yearly checkup, I inquired again. Bob, the nurse I saw this time, bless his heart, did some research for me. (I pointed out, yet again, that I didn't want a trip. Just the piece of paper, please) He found that if a person has more than one close relative with breast cancer the recommendation is that she get a mammogram at 40, even here.
I'm going to Edmonton and Calgary next week. I knew this about a month ago, and I called the health centre again to see if I could make some arrangements. This time I called a nurse I knew would listen to what I was saying (Bob's gone, or I'd have called him.) and she called the clinic in Edmonton and found that I needed a doctor's signature.
So I went in the week before last to see the doctor. He had a website that he showed me, and he was calculating my risk. Apparently I have a 37.5% chance of developing breast cancer in my lifetime. But only a 0.5% chance in the next five years, so I figure I better get busy.
He signed the paper. I left it at the front desk, and went home.
Last week I started calling to see who was doing what with my paper. The call I got back, on Thursday, was another nurse, who told me she had made me a appointment in Yellowknife on the 10th of September for a mammogram...
No, no, no.
I explained, and she dubiously promised to try and get me an appointment in Edmonton. When I got off the phone, I said to Miguel, if I get breast cancer while I'm waiting for them to figure this out, I'm gonna sue them. He said he'd help.
In the end, I have a mammogram appointment IN EDMONTON on Friday of next week. You'd think, with the amount of trouble this took, that I was asking for state-funded breast implants or something. Nobody would really think that someone would want a mammogram for fun, would they? Like, frivolously?
