Answers

In the wee hours of June 10, 2010, my dad went Home. Not his home here, with us in Elmwood/Glenelm, not his parent’s house in Fort Garry, not his first apartment with my mom wherever that may have been. He went Home, to Heaven – cancer free and chillin with the Master Carpenter. My dad had Pancreatic Cancer – battled it visibly for three months, but in reality, a lot longer than that. See, no one notices the symptoms of PC until it’s too late – it’s either inoperable, or it’s metastasized. According to studies, while Breast Cancer is the leader in numbers affected, Pancreatic Cancer, along with Prostate Cancer, claims the largest percentage of its victims. This is largely because of a lack of knowledge. A lack of funding. A lack of … everything. Manitoba didn’t even have a CancerCare branch devoted to Pancreatic Cancer until this year – due, in LARGE part, to vigilant efforts on the part of my sister and her sister-in-law. Those two ladies are amazing. Troopers. Trend-setters. The. Best. People. I. Know. Something needed to be done, and they did it. Lisa, the wonderful, uncanny, phenomenal, incredible, remarkable, charming, Lisa – I realize that’s all a bit redundant, but it needs to be said – this lady, is one of a kind. To have her on your team is like having every great and powerful person standing behind you cheering you on. This lady is spectacular. She, along with my sister, who is also all of those things, aside from Lisa – my sister is her own person – brought it to the attention of the CancerCare big-wigs that there was little to no funding for Pancreatic Cancer research. They, together, made SURE it was known that something needed to change. The two of them made sure they got answers.

People these days seem to lack the direction to get answers. They have a question, need direction, want help… whatever the case may be, and go for the quick fix, the band-aid answer. People, people, people. That’s not enough, you deserve SO much more than a temporary solution. You deserve a real answer. THE answer. I’m looking for answers all the time. All. The. Time. I ask my friends, I ask my mom, I ask my sisters, heck… I even ask people I’m not that close with. Why? Because I want answers, something to keep me searching for THE answer. Big T, Big H, Big E. THE answer. Band-aids fall off, they get dirty, become useless. You lose band-aids in the pool, shower, hot tub, your pocket, your desk drawer. They stop working. They’re not enough. Sure, if it’s something like “what’s 3 times 4?” The answer, inevitably, will be 12, and that could be considered a band-aid answer. It just covered it, didn’t explain it, didn’t make it make sense. WHY is 3 times 4, 12? Who knows? You count to four, three times on your fingers, and you’ll have made it through both hands and started in again with two more fingers. Take three groups of four apples, count them all, you’ll have 12. But you wouldn’t tell someone the answer to a complex mathematical equation is JUST a number. You would explain it to them. You wouldn’t put a band-aid on a deep wound that OBVIOUSLY needed stitches instead. So why would you stop searching for the answer that ACTUALLY answers your question.

Lisa and Bryn, these two amazing women – who I am more than honoured to know – made sure they didn’t stop until they got an answer that they felt ACTUALLY answered their question. They didn’t just stop at “we don’t direct funding there,” they made sure they got “we don’t direct enough funding there yet. Let’s chat about how we can fix that.” THAT, folks, is NOT a band-aid answer. Don’t stop until you get THE answer.

I have had constant knee pain in varying degrees of intensity for the past five years. I’ve seen four different doctors and have heard five different opinions. That’s right. Four Dr’s, five opinions. FINALLY, I was referred to a specialist. Five. Years. Later. This was not just something every teenage girl experiences – it’s not a period. This was not bursitis – I’m not that old and I hadn’t done anything to injure my bursas. This was not patella femoral syndrome – although that could still be a factor. It was none of those. My bones, as it turns out, are misaligned. Oh, the joys of biology. I finally had an answer. I got three answers actually – I currently have three different surgery choices to rectify or at least, help to manage the situation. Not a band-aid answer. A real answer.

A friend of mine is currently waiting for answers. Any kind of answer. Even a band-aid answer at this point. Doctors seem to take their sweet time with this friend. Over a decade of the same problem, something that makes my misaligned bones seem like a teeny tiny little problem in comparison. Tests have been scheduled to see if surgery is an option, but how long before those test results get back? How long before the doctors look at them seriously? How long does my friend have to wait, before they figure out that – oh, the scans are inconclusive, or oh, the test results were lost, or oh, there’s nothing we can do about your problem, or the one I’m hoping my friend gets to hear “oh, you know what? Surgery is totally an option! When are you available?” It’s taken 10 years of digging, and searching, praying and wondering, and even – I’m sure - absolute frustration, to get to the point where surgery might be an option. I can only look at my friend and be amazed. I’m amazed that their faith is unshaken, stronger even, than it was when this all started. I’m amazed that my friend hasn’t lost their mind over this. Amazed at the sheer determination of their mom, a wonderful lady who has been through more than most people should ever have to. I’m quite simply amazed. This lady raised her kids for the last 11 years on her own, and they are all absolutely amazing people. People I’m glad to know. People I’m utterly amazed by. They all make sure they get their answers.

Make sure you get YOUR answers. The real ones. None of that temporary, I’ll-get-back-to-it-later stuff. I’m working on getting mine.