Compassion, care at the fore even in ‘broken’ system

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/04/2023 (1072 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WE’VE all read the news reports on the problems with our health-care system. Hospitals, clinics, family doctors and others are stretched beyond capacity; wait times for diagnostics, specialists and surgeries are unacceptably high. The system is in crisis.

I have a different story to tell.

I was diagnosed with an advancing kidney disease in 2004, and referred to the Health Sciences Centre kidney clinic for regular followup. In 2006, I retired — one never knows how many years of life are left and there were things I wanted to do. I spent more time with my wife, before she died unexpectedly in 2008. I travelled the world, worked part-time, visited family and friends, old and new.

But in December 2018, my kidneys ceased functioning.

I started dialysis immediately, three times a week at HSC through the Christmas season. In January, I began training to do hemodialysis on my own at home. With the support and guidance of extremely competent and caring nurses, I tried home dialysis for eight months, but it became more complex than I could manage and I worried when problems occurred.

I was quickly transferred to the Sherbrook dialysis centre, where the nurses helped me deal with my sense of failure. For three years I was provided professional, empathic, warm and personal care. I came to enjoy time with all of the staff I encountered (nurses, aides, dietitian, pharmacist, doctors and others).

Then COVID struck. Little was known at this time about how to protect one another. Staff who became sick stayed home, and remaining workers had longer shifts to ensure essential life-saving dialysis was provided.

Throughout this time, however, staff continued to lift our spirits, listen to our worries, and provide comfort, reassurance and guidance. Even with all the fear, I felt secure in their care.

In 2021, a doctor asked whether I would consider a kidney transplant. He informed me of risks, benefits, procedures, quality-of-life issues and responded to all my questions. Several days later, I decided to go for it. After months of tests to assess whether I was a suitable candidate, in March 2022, I was informed I was eligible for a transplant and placed on the waiting list.

I had heard of lengthy waiting times, but in mid-April, I was surprised by an evening phone call. A kidney was available; I was told to come to HSC the next morning for the transplant. On the drive over, I received a phone call that I might have been exposed to COVID during dialysis. It was too risky for a transplant. Both the doctor and I were disappointed, but I returned home. I felt like I was now on a roller-coaster with no way off.

Fortunately, within a week, I received another call. After surgery, which had some complications, I was taken to an area for transplant recipients to recover.

Never in my adult life had I been so dependent in so many ways on the assistance of others to make it through a day. For three weeks, all my physical and mental needs were attended to by many different staff members. Nurses and nursing students attended to me daily, doctors met with me every morning. All treated me with respect, responded to my needs at any time of day or night, were polite, efficient and extended their humanity to me.

On the fourth week, I was transferred to a unit where I began physiotherapy to prepare me to go home safely. From being barely able to walk with assistance, I gradually was guided to walk lengths of the hallway by myself (with a walker). I became able to once again dress and go to the toilet myself. Finally, I was discharged home.

But would I be able to cope on my own? Thankfully, friends, neighbours and family all pitched in to help, and I remain forever grateful for nurses from Home Care and then Access Fort Garry, whose care, support and answers to all my questions during those months of recovery were remarkable.

Yes, the health-care system is in crisis. But my “insider” patient perspective has given me great confidence in those Winnipeggers who work within it every day. Their compassion, sincerity, kindness and concern for the welfare of their patients should never be underestimated.

What all seem to agree on is that we need more of them.

The question remains, how do we find, educate and retain more like those I encountered?

John Buchanan Bond Jr. is a retired professor in the department of family social sciences at the University of Manitoba.