This is Teri P.'s story
In February of 2016 I had the unfortunate experience of being “treated” and “diagnosed”by a doctor at a medical clinic in Ladner, BC. My family doctor was away. But I had an issue that I felt was urgent and couldn’t wait.
April 19th of 2016 was my first initial surgery where I had two thirds of my tongue, the floor of my mouth and every lymph node on my left side removed.
They rebuilt my tongue with skin grafts from my forearm. I healed as best as I could, and tried to move on with my life, no matter how painful it was. But from that day forward, my whole life changed and I never forget the careless error made by the doctor who I saw initially.
A few short months after my surgery, they find another mass in my tongue, it was removed and tested- it turned out to be benign. Another few short months pass- and yet another mass found- benign again but this time the mass so big there was nothing to hold the tongue together anymore, so I was left disfigured with a forked tongue. And this began a painful battle with diet, as eating was almost torturous. Every sip, breath or bite I took was pure agony. I lost a dramatic amount of weight and my esophagus shrunk due to inactivity, as eating and drinking was so painful.
After pet scans, MRI’s and cat scans, and until July of 2019 I was so called “cancer free” but yet again another suspicious lesion was found, and it turns out it’s stage four cancer all over again. Squamous cell carcinoma can spread quickly - literally one month could mean life or death for someone- there is no time that can be wasted on a misdiagnosis.
My second bout of surgery's began in September of 2019 which was much more invasive then the first. The cancer had spread into my jaw bone, teeth and again in the floor of my mouth, tongue and lymph nodes, this time on the right side. They did another skin graft from my leg to rebuild the tissue they removed in my mouth. They rebuilt my jaw with a plate and screws and removed seventy five percent of my teeth on the mandible. I was discharged after 11 days, and immediately after my discharge, I developed a very serious infection in the graft leg. I was placed on daily intravenous antibiotics for two weeks and was followed closely by wound care specialists.
Despite many efforts from other physicians, I am forever changed and my life and appearance will never be the same again. Now I have a total loss of verbal communication, I am in constant pain and unable to sleep, I am on numerous medications, I have permanent nerve damage, I am malnourished and underweight and have not just physical but permanent emotional scars. I do not want this type of medical harm to continue and ruin another patient's life, as was mine. My income has dropped drastically with only my CPP and the generosity of my daughter who is now my care giver, I did not get any medical compensation for the harm I have experienced. That doctor continues to live a very comfortable life style.
I noticed a lesion on the lateral border of my tongue that had been bothering me off and on for a couple weeks, when finally it started to affect my health and inhibited eating. For this reason, I agreed to see the first available doctor.
Upon arrival I explained to this doctor the discomfort I was experiencing in my mouth, she then examined my tongue, and claimed “no, problem, it’s just a canker sore.” I was very surprised with this diagnosis, as I have had canker sores in the past and none had ever felt like this, but knowing that she has a medical degree and is in fact a medical professional, I trusted her diagnosis and opinion and I was sent on my way with a prescription for a corticosteroid cream to treat this so called, canker sore.
I used this cream for the recommended time and dosage, but the discomfort only seemed to increase, my gut was telling me there was something more to this lesion, that wasn’t “just a canker sore” so when the corticosteroid cream was all used up, I decided to go see my dentist, in March of 2016. Upon examination he had stated that he believed it was more than a canker sore, that it was a suspicious lesion that he wanted an immediate referral- he started the referral process and encouraged me to make an appointment with my family doctor again as he did not believe the diagnosis diagnosis was accurate at all.
I returned to my family doctor and she made immediate arrangements for a biopsy, as this was no canker sore, it was something more serious. This biopsy was treated as urgent- I
was moved to the top of every list and seen numerous doctors all within days. After the biopsy taken on March 7th 2016, immediate arrangements were made for me to see an oral surgeon, as this lesion was of a “cancer-like nature.” The biopsy results were returned rapidly and at the very first appointment with the oral surgeon not only confirmed that the lesion was cancerous, but stage 4 cancer. He stated if not operated on immediately, I wouldn’t live to see the summer.
I was immediately booked for surgery in Vancouver and sent for many tests and scans. I was also referred to an oncologist for discussions of what to expect and to explain the long journey of five straight weeks of radiation, scheduled for after my surgery in July of 2016.