We often hear about load shedding since the beginning of the pandemic, but its effects remain abstract. As hospitals face a critical lack of resources, The duty decided to put words and faces to statistics. Today, Stephanie’s story.
When she learned that she had uterine cancer last spring, Stéphanie Beaulne got a tattoo of “a life line surrounded by a heart” with the names of her four daughters and her granddaughter. girl. “I got this tattoo to encourage me to fight for my family. But now, when I look at it, I’m a little discouraged…”
The 43-year-old woman is a beneficiary attendant in a long-term care center (CHSLD) in Gatineau. The COVID, she knows. But she had never thought of paying the price in this way. “I can’t believe we’re offloading for cancer. It seems to me that it is dangerous…”
In March 2021, she was told her cancer was stage 1, the least advanced stage. Her first appointment for surgery was scheduled for September, but it was canceled.
A few months later, she had another biopsy. She was at stage 2. We rescheduled the operation for March 2022. But last week, she received the call she dreaded. His operation is canceled, once again.
“I was cursed, disappointed, I was crying,” she says on the phone. Stéphanie Beaulne is worried. Very worried. “The word ‘cancer’ is a word you never want to hear. And there, knowing that I can’t have the operation, it was like a slap in the face. It’s really scary. It’s scary. I do not want to die… “
The faces of load shedding
We told her we would call her back to give her a new date. In the meantime, she will have to do a third biopsy next month to follow the evolution of the disease. “Anyway, why don’t they operate on me instead?” », Despairs the lady.
Last week she started bleeding again. “My partner tells me to call my doctor, but I can’t reach him. »
Don’t think about “that”
On bad days, Stéphanie Beaulne has a belly “as big as a 10 month pregnant woman”. She has no more energy. Yet she continues to work. “There are days when I find it difficult, but if I stay at home, I will just think about it and it would not be good for me. However, she is assigned to “light tasks” such as disinfecting rooms and filling equipment. “I can’t push too hard. »
At home too, she tries to take her mind off things: she bought herself a 1000-piece puzzle so as not to think about “that”.
And it’s not just her that the situation affects. “My family is worried too. They spend their time asking me: when are you going to have your surgery? I tell them I don’t know…”
While waiting for the long-awaited operation, she will get another name tattooed: that of her second granddaughter, who should see the light of day this spring, like a breath of hope.