“I think this is the stage at which I was most helpless and which I found the most difficult. » This overwhelming period that Brigitte Rouleau refers to is not the initial shock of her breast cancer diagnosis. Nor is it the 15 long and painful months of intensive treatment she had to endure. Nor his total mastectomy. It is — ironically — After that she was declared cured and that she said she had experienced her greatest ordeal.
Although she was a doctor herself, she had not been warned of the second battle she would be forced to wage against the severe side effects of her treatments, years later. An ordeal that she had to go through alone, without the help of the Quebec medical system, which is only just beginning to become aware of the post-recovery needs of patients.
However, this trying period of adaptation after cancer treatments has been documented for almost 40 years. “It was a purgatory affected by all aspects of illness, but which was neither death nor healing. It was survival,” wrote the American doctor Fitzhugh Mullan in 1985, also cured of cancer, also struggling with great fatigue, reduced exercise capacity and amputation of a part of the body. Research has evolved a lot since then, but patient services, much less.
In an intimate tone, the DD Brigitte Rouleau recounts her “stations of the cross” to her sister and confidante, the journalist Marie-Paul Rouleau, to prevent other cancer survivors from blaming the shock and dismay she experienced. Especially since two out of five people in Canada will be diagnosed with this disease during their lifetime.
This is the starting point of an in-depth six-episode quest which leads the journalist to meet cancer experts, but above all cured people who courageously expose the hazards of their own second battle.
This is the case of Mélina and Anthony, a couple who saw their daily lives turned upside down when the young mother, 30 weeks pregnant, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Where many others say they were forced to break up after treatment, they saw their love triumph, not without upheavals. Cancer makes romantic relationships difficult and disrupts sex life.
While its repercussions disrupt the lives of all those who have recovered, members of the LGBTQ+ community face very specific challenges and must navigate a health system that is sometimes ill-equipped to respond to them. Marc, Anessa, Bruce and Jean-Louis recount their experiences, sometimes very intimate.
And when cancer strikes in adolescence, it is particularly cruel. These are crucial years of carefreeness and affirmation that he took from Juliette, diagnosed at 16 years old. After courageously undergoing her treatments, she faced serious psychological repercussions and her family had to turn to the private sector to fill a lack of services.
Fortunately, life after cancer is not without hope. In the health system, we are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of better supporting those who have recovered. Marie-Paul Rouleau visits hospitals where new initiatives are helping them adapt to post-treatment jolts.
The podcast The cured is published on all listening platforms. It is also possible to listen to it on the website of the Duty as well as on YouTube.