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, the story of Jasmine, who has to deal with a mysterious mass in the brain.
Jasmine Léger, 31, wanted to run in the last municipal elections. She also dreams of having children with her boyfriend. But all his plans are put on hold pending an appointment with a neurologist who can give him the facts about his growing brain mass and causing him a lot of suffering for almost five years. Because of the load shedding, she knows she won’t have answers for quite a while.
In 2017, the young woman began to have strange symptoms: she no longer felt certain parts of her body. Fearing that she might have multiple sclerosis, her doctor referred her to a specialist neurologist who gave her a medical imaging exam. She got good news and bad news. The good news: she didn’t have multiple sclerosis. The bad news: we had detected a mass in the brain. “The neurologist told me not to worry…for now. We would worry if it grew. »
Jasmine took another exam in 2018. The mass had grown a little. But since she did not have multiple sclerosis, the neurologist – who only works with patients with this disease – told her that he could no longer follow her. Since then, and despite numerous requests from her family doctor, she has been unable to get an appointment with another neurologist.
The last time she underwent a check-up, in 2019, the mass had grown even bigger. “The doctor tells me it’s probably a cyst—that’s what the neurologist also told me—but will it get so bad that…” Jasmine hesitates to verbalize her fears, as if the naming them might make them more real.
“Are you scared, Jasmine? At the end of the line, the young woman takes a few seconds to answer. “Well…yes…I’m afraid my case will get worse by the time I get some answers.” Sometimes I’m afraid of my symptoms too, because I don’t understand them. »
Pain and migraines
At work, she reduces the light in the office and closes the door to reduce noise, because she gets a lot of migraines. She had to adapt her work schedule as well, because her sleep is “all crooked”. She has no energy and aches all over. Currently, it is her lower back that is causing her pain and she does a series of exercises recommended by a chiropractor and a physiotherapist daily to try to reduce the pain.
Her doctor believes the lump is pressing on other parts of her brain, causing these mysterious pains. But this answer does not satisfy her. “Uncertainty annoys me,” she explains.
Her family doctor also gives her a series of tests to rule out other possible causes for these symptoms. “My doc does everything he can: he asks me if I want pain pills. But no ! I want to know what I have! I am 31 years old, I am tired…”
If you would like to share a story on the consequences of load shedding, write to our journalists Isabelle Porter and Jessica Nadeau: [email protected] and [email protected]