March 2000. Office of Dr. Kandell, Gastroenterology, Wellesley Hospital, Toronto.  “I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is you have cancer. The good news is there is only the one tumor and it has not spread.”

March 2000, Dr. Breirley,  Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto .

“Has anyone talked to you about radiation and Systemic Scleroderma? Because we don’t do radiation on patients ,like yourself, who have S SC and the difficulty is that the surgeon you’ve seen will not do the operation to remove the tumor without radiation first.”

Systemic Scleroderma is a rare auto immune disease that  can affect heart, lungs and kidneys.  Radiation causes an exacerbation of the disease.  I was lucky. Another surgeon took up the challenge.

April 18, 2000   Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto. Surgical team led by Dr. Zane Cohen.  Seven hours of surgery to…