Good news. Sort of.
After that (admittedly) bad call with the surgeon, I stewed for a bit. Then I got another call (you know they are coming from the Quebec healthcare system because they are blocked/private numbers): I thought it would be the surgeon dropping me as a patient or some other bad news.
It was actually a call from the neurologist I had seen at the hospital a couple of weeks earlier, asking how things were going. She had been on holidays, and had just seen the MRI with the meningioma. She asked if I had been referred to a surgeon, etc. I told her the whole story, including that bad call I had had with the surgeon, getting pushed back, my worsening symptoms, etc.
An empathic doctor.
She was surprised, saying the surgeon was well liked and very good. She asked questions about my condition, mentioned my verbal skills seemed off since we had spoken last, and I explained that it was largely because I was so upset from the other call, and my Francophonie is weak when i'm angry.
She reassured me, and said that based on what she could see in the MRI, he was right to deprioritize me. I was not in a critical situation. My condition was classical meningioma, not in a dangerous spot, and any symptoms of paralysis, etc. were caused mostly not by the tumour but by swelling in the lining around it, which could be treated by the Decadron/cortisone pills mentioned by the surgeon. Any symptoms would very likely be reversed after the operation.
She understood my frustration, but continued to reassure me that it was unlikely that I would suffer grave consequences from delays. I guess my beef with the surgeon was that he wasn't as empathic, empathy and didn't offer as many explanations and clarifications.
Hey! I got a cardiologist!
There is some good news though: I finally have a cardiologist to track a condition I might have with my ascending aorta. I seem to have a genetic condition where the aorta is enlarged right where it comes out of the heart, which could burst in time. My mother as well as several aunts, uncles and cousins have this condition: some have died from it, others have had an operation to replace the aorta with a synthetic tube (including my mother).
After two years of sort of waiting around for action from the Quebec healthcare system, it ironically took a brain tumour to get a cardiologist to look at that (potentially) developing situation. He will be seeing me in a couple of weeks to begin looking at all of that.
