Pat’s story

My introduction to CGMH began in July when I was having trouble getting air with any kind of exertion. I went to the Emergency Department and after blood tests and an ECG proved to be fine. Dr. Jeff Matte ordered a chest x-ray, which showed a pneumothorax in the left lung. Within 45 minutes, he had inserted a drain tube through my ribs and into the exterior part of my left lung. I felt immediate relief. I couldn’t believe how quickly and efficiently I had been looked after.

My care was then turned over to Dr. Dapo Akinyele who carefully checked the drainage through x-rays over the next several days before removing the tube. Unfortunately, within a week and a half I was back to Emerg with the same problem. This time I was under the care of Dr. Michael Steedman and a second tube was inserted. Once again back to Dr. Akinyele’s very efficient care and the 2nd tube was removed on August 18th.

This was all new to a woman who had been blessed with good health.  Other than a broken jaw many years ago, I had never been in a hospital other than to give birth to each of my 3 daughters.

In the early hours of October 23rd I became faint and started to lose a lot of blood. In Emerg I was seen very quickly and had a battery of tests. Within the next 36 hours and after more testing, including a CT scan, I was told I was going to have an upper and lower scan performed by Dr. Michael Lisi. By the time I awoke from the procedure Dr. Lisi had already called my family to explain in detail that he had found a blockage in the lower scope.

I had Colon cancer.

Needless to say, I was in shock, but the kindness of Dr. Victoria Archer and nursing staff kept me reasonably calm until I was able to see my family. My own physician, Dr. Jennifer Young, also kept me calm, explaining to me that surgery for the cancer was going to take place the next evening and Dr. Lisi would be my surgeon.

After a 5 hour operation, he once again took the time to call my family to tell them that all had gone well. When I first came to at 3am in the ICU, Dr. Archer was there once again to tell me all was okay. I stayed in the ICU until Sunday morning, under the caring and helpful watch of several ICU nurses and caregivers from other hospital sections.

While some of my 5 day stay at CGMH is somewhat of a blur, I do not have enough words to express my total and sincere gratitude to the professional staff at our Collingwood Hospital. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their kindness; encouragement and overall care. Our CGMH is something that each and every resident of Collingwood and the general area should be very proud of and hopefully we will all support in whatever manner is necessary.

With deepest regards,

Patricia (Pat) Lee