Canadians in British Columbia
Comments
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wrenn, please come back and update. From Monday, I can call, not sure when the shot will be.
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wrenn,
So you are age group. I am 53 years old, from coastal health, not sure when the appt will be. Will try to call on Monday.
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clinically vulnerable with a letter from Bonnie Henry are Monday at noon by phone.
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Moth, does it start from Monday noon not Monday morning? I will ride daughter to school Monday morning, will call around noon. I saw your post that you are doing exercise, that is great. I enroll my fitness class every Monday morning, fitness class full within 30 minutes after enrollment open. Busy Monday, booking Monday.
Wrenn, I got invitation as "clinically vulnerable" group, can call from March 29. I searched richmond clinics, sounds they offer services in different clinic every day, will want to get it asap!
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SaraJay, I'm so sorry you are having to go through this. My surgeries were at the Breast Health Clinic at Jim Pattison. I got very good care there and found the staff kind and thorough. My doctor said that was the best place to go for treatment and I think he was right. Follow up care (radiology the first time and MO appointments the second time) was at the BC Cancer Agency at SMH.
The unknown and the waiting is really hard... it's difficult to think of anything except whatever is going on in your breast. Once a diagnosis is determined and a treatment plan in place, many have said they found iteasier to cope. Hope this is the case for you.
This is a good site to come to for information and support. Just keep breathing and putting one foot in front of the other for now, and be kind to yourself. Keep us posted xx hugs
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SaraJay, I forgot to say that the breast health clinic will assign you a surgeon, should you end up needing surgical treatment. (Dr. Rhonda Janzen did my lumpectomy in 2012; my double mastectomy in 2018 was done by Francis Zhi.)
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wrenn,
Yes, quite a few people around us are clinically vulnerable, I am not sure if I can make the call connected the coming Monday. They will have online system running after April 6, anyway, a good news. I also go for shopping, ride daughter, visit clinics, ... Wish you a smooth experience, and what I am concerned most is, it is either pfizer or moderna, that I can accept.
Happy weekend.
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wrenn, yes, I saw that page, should be.
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Akmom, thank you. I appreciate your kind words and support. I'm feeling confident in the expertise of the team at Jim Pattison. These next few days of waiting are going to be so hard.
I'm worried that if I receive positive results from the biopsy, the waiting on further test results will be the absolute worst. My mind has already been going to worst case scenario for weeks due to the size of the tumor that I can feel. Then I found out during the biopsy that there are two other areas. While I know that everyone is different, I can't help but think it's really bad.
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Pots thank you for letting us know about Marian. I am so sad to learn that she has died. She was a courageous, caring and feisty woman who brought many of us together from BCO. I met her twice and enjoyed her company. A loss for us all. Peace to you Marian Elizabeth. ❤️
Pearl0 -
SaraJay the wait is the absolute worst. I am sending positive thoughts your way that it will turn out better than expected. You have a great team and you have done all the right things to get answers as quickly as possible. Wishing you the best outcome
Pearl
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SaraJay, yes the waiting and waiting is hard. It feels like each day is a week and drags. I’m glad you have an appointment at the breast Health Center April 9, now you have a target and they have a date to get all the reports and imaging done. Having been a similar circumstance in 2013, try to stay away from dr. Goggle....and focus on getting you’re information from reputable sources. Try to focus on preparing a medical case history to give them on April 9...maternal history, date first period, pregnancies, any surgeries, list of drugs, medical conditions, etc. Feel free to ask us questions, you aren’t alone.
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DearLife: I am grateful for the support on this forum. While it's definitely not something I'd like to be doing, it's brought some sense of comfort to me over this past week or so. I know I can't do anything now to change the outcome. Thank you for your positive thoughts 💕.
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Pots: thank you for your rational words. I've been doing better with the Googling of things. While I think I might be mentally prepared for bad news, in reality I'm really not. My brain tends to drift off to dark places. I'm very lucky to have an amazing daughter who is stronger than I feel these days. I know she is stressed out and probably more scared than I am, but doesn't show it. We are very close and I've always been very honest with her. I need to be strong for her.
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glad you got yours already wrenn! I have an appointment for the vaccine for April 1 under the clinically vulnerable category. I booked online at midnight on the Fraser Health website as it said we could book 24/7 starting March 29.
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Moth, so lucky you got appointment. I am calling from morning till now, cannot get in. I am from coastal health, our online booking will start from April 6. Just canceled community pass, cause group fitness was ordered to stop again.
Wrenn, thanks for getting back, and great it was smooth experience today!
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I received my letter today and am thrilled to say I am booked but earliest I could get in was April 9th. Can’t happen fast enough particularly given the numbers. Eek!
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So good at least you got the date, I got to keep dialing tomorrow.
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I called in at seven this morning, and got April 9, I am in richmond.
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I called in yesterday (only 15 minute wait on hold) and got a vaccine appointment for April 14 under the CEV invitation. Interior Health is running a bit later than the western health authorities but the date actually works perfect for me. Blood work, pamidronate infusion, and scans on April 6/7 so this will let me get over the pamidronate fatigue before I get the vaccine.
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Great Ilowen. Timing is actually perfect for me as well if the scans indicate I will continue on Xeloda. I will just be starting my fourth cycle (one day in) so my blood should be in good shape.
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I'm so glad to hear about people getting the vaccines! It feels like the promised roll-out might actually happen ...
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Just got my Pfizer shot at UBC. So well organized!
I got the appointment with my “Clinically Extremely Vulnerable" letter (as well as my age). My younger friend got the same letter and was shocked to be included in the CEV group. We are both early stage breast cancers but are taking hormone therapy, finished all other treatment. I agree the language is upsetting. According to my research, hormone therapy doesn't affect the immune system so I don't see how we are extremely clinically vulnerable to COVID. But I am still glad we got a break.
Questions for other early stagers on hormone therapy:
- Were you upset to be described as “Clinically Extremely Vulnerable"?
- Do you think BC Cancer should have forewarned us or reworded the letter to avoid alarming those who are early stage on hormone therapy?
I am on the Vancouver Cancer Centre Patient Council and would like to give them some feedback at the next meeting if others found this distressing.Meanwhile, hurray for the jab!
❤️
Pearl0 -
Pearl,
I have the same thinking, I am lucky to accept this special care, I respect government's judge, no matter whether I am picked up for fast line, I will follow government's rules.
I got appointment at April 9, days to wait. I want to travel locally.
When is your second dose? Will you extend your activities two weeks after first dose?
Cathy
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Pearl, I am also early stage and currently on Letrozole. I was surprised to get the letter, as my understanding was that my situation did not put me in the “vulnerable” category. However I was pleased, rather than upset, to learn that I would be getting the vaccination ahead of my age cohort (I amscheduled for April 5).
I think that it would have been a huge undertaking to review all patient records to see who would qualify as CEV - they likely decided to err on the side of caution. Since we will all be eligible for the vaccine eventually, it seems sensible to me that everyone currently in treatment (regardless of stage, grade, etc.) should be offered the vaccination now. It seems that this decision may have delayed vaccinations for the age 65 - 71 group. I am in that group myself so can understand that the delay may be frustrating! No easy answers - I feel for those having to make these decisions on the fly with constantly changing information.
Dale
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Mid Vancouver Island seems to be so far behind in getting vaccinations. I called last week & have to travel a long way to get my shot within 2 ½ weeks, not til April 13th. It would have been 3 ½ weeks wait for Parksville or Nanaimo. I am clinically vulnerable as I get chemo weekly. Seems like all my much younger healthy friends were able to get shots this week in Vancouver. Feeling like I should have travelled to the mainland.
but glad all of you were able to get in, the more of us that get this vaccine, maybe the sooner we can get it somewhat under control
cheers, dee
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Dee I am sorry you have to wait. You should have been in the first group. My friends on Galiano Island over 80 got their shots on March 23 along with other vulnerable people (people who had home care, though younger) but I don’t think the CEV letters had gone out then. They were slow to send the letters.
It looks like they are prioritizing the Lower Mainland.
Dale it’s true that things are moving fast it’s hard for government to keep up. And probably complex to sort the database of cancer patients. I know BC Cancer is instituting a new system and it is not fully operational.
But people on active chemo should have been first in line. This was my friend’s concern, that she was taking someone else’s place.
Cathy, the second shot is unknown. I will still be careful after two weeks. Meanwhile I am staying home watching the cherry blossoms open!
Happy Easter everyone 🐣
Pearl
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Hi Dee,
I share your frustration but it is pretty clear they were prioritizing the lower mainland as patients had their letters on the same day they were supposed to be mailed out. Canada Post is never going to be that efficient. It took several days before folks started getting them on the island.
With regards to early stagers, I agree that it was likely an issue of logistics. There are many of us stage IV individuals who are on hormone therapy but would still be considered quite vulnerable. I only shifted to chemo in January but have an issue with my lung due to pleural effusion. I know if I had COVID it would have been bad. And some hormone related treatments (for example Ibrance) have a significant impact on the immune system. Also, depending on how far out you are from chemo, you may still have a lowered immune system.
All to say, given that the hope is that everyone gets vaccinated by summer, the effort required to delve into patient situations to such a granular level would simply not be worth it. I wouldn’t read to much into it. All I know is I’m thrilled to be scheduled for my jab as time is precious these days.
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I think I'm just frustrated with how the rollout doesn't seem to be going well for the island, yet we are being inundated with tourists who think nothing of coming here for a vacation during a pandemic. I'm not worried about those who may have gotten a letter when they think maybe they shouldn't have. It just seems like some areas of the province have been left behind.
I've never seen so many out of province plates even in the summer as I have lately. We are never going to get rid of this if people don't smarten up.
Two of my friends, 60's in the lower mainland walked into a pharmacy yesterday afternoon at 4:30pm, asked if they could get the vaccine & yup, walked out 15 mins later. Not even an option on the island.
anyways, thanks for listening to me b*tch. take care all! cheers, dee
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Pots,
Thank you for sharing about your mother's passing, I'm sorry for your loss. marianelizabeth was kind to me also and I wanted to let you know. She was kind to so many and opened her heart and was so encouraging for all of us. She will be greatly missed.
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