Episode list

In Vancouver, three month old Dimitris, the son of George and Illeana, is undergoing open heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart. This surgery, although now considered routine, is still nerve-wracking for his parents, as there is no guarantee that he will come out the other end better or even alive. Dimitris is one of ten babies born every day in Canada with some sort of heart defect. In Calgary, Sheila is an at-home caregiver to her husband Larry, who suffers from Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. He is one of 700,000 Canadians with the disease. Sheila does not like the caregiver label, she preferring to be called Larry's wife as she sees her taking care of him her wifely duty in what is their so far forty-five year marriage. Larry still has more moments of lucidity than not. Sheila dreads the day when they will be separated as she knows Larry needing to be institutionalized will soon be upon them. Sheila, a senior herself, is still in relatively good health, and wants to stay that way if only for the sake of taking care of Larry. Sheila feels that she has much professional support for her and Larry's lives. In Toronto, for twenty-eight year old Alex, an Afghanistan war veteran, he is now six weeks into recuperation from a beer league hockey accident that broke his neck. The probability that he will ever walk again is low. However Alex, who struggles today with a fever, is determined to beat the odds as he soldiers on with his scheduled full day of physical therapy, not only with the help of his therapists, but also his identical twin brother, Andre. Also in Toronto, fourteen year old Danesia is going in for what is only the latest treatment to deal with a burn she suffered as a toddler from a scalding pot of soup in her native Jamaica. The initial surgery made the situation worse. The Toronto burn team today is trying to deal with the scar on her arm with the first of what will probably be a series of laser treatments, to loosen the skin from the muscles as she continues to grow. Sean and Ted are professional partners as paramedics on Prince Edward Island. Today, they will deal with eighty-five year old Bill, who may have suffered the latest of a series of mini-strokes, only one of forty-one Canadians who will have one today. And the Nain Community Clinic is the northernmost medical facility in Newfoundland and Labrador. There is no doctor in town, the closest one being a three hour boat ride or ninety minute plane ride away in Goose Bay. The nurses on duty at the clinic will often have to maintain vitals of more serious patients, such as eighty-three year old Julius who recently suffered kidney failure, as they await transport to Goose Bay. But for anything related to the day to day work of a doctor that is required for Nain residents, modern technology in the form robotics with videoconferencing capabilities is the current answer.

In Vancouver, Susan is a cradle to grave family general practitioner, a dying breed as most medical school students today tend to specialize. Susan's days are already usually jam packed, rushing from one professional commitment to another, but today is even busier as she starts the day not as doctor but as patient, going into the hospital for a colonoscopy as a precautionary measure since she has a family history which makes her more predisposed to colon cancer than average. Also in Vancouver, twenty-five year old Jamie is also entering the hospital for what will be the second heart surgery he's had in six years. He has a unique genetic heart defect which required implantation of a defibrillator to ensure that his heart beats normally in the instances where his heart condition would have otherwise killed him. But the electrical leads are now growing into his muscles, they which have to be removed and replaced via laser surgery. There is some risk to him as the laser could cause a hole in his heart if it gets too close. In Winnipeg, Joanne suffers from multiple sclerosis, which has left her with mobility issues. Despite lamenting the strain it has placed on her husband and teenaged sons' lives, she is pragmatic about it being what it is. But she still can't help worry about the future of her family member's lives as she will become even more dependent on them as her muscle functions further deteriorate over time. Today, Joanne has a therapy appointment to determine if certain muscle issues she is facing are related to the MS or are from a previous injury. The Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto deals with among other cardiac issues people who have suffered from heart failure, with a life expectancy following successful cardiac work on people with heart failure being being just over two years. Some are bucking the trend, living as long as ten to fifteen years following. Richard, a construction worker, received a heart transplant five days ago, he still going through the emotional issue that someone had to die for him to live. Forty-four year old Trevor, who has an external mechanical heart, recently declined a heart transplant, instead choosing to stay with the external unit until that is no longer an option if only because the heart transplant will only last for that ten to fifteen years at most. Trevor must also be made aware that the mechanical unit itself may have its problems, which may result in him being taken off the transplant list in the future. Although classified as pediatric hospice which deals primarily with end-of-life pediatric care, Roger's House in Ottawa is also a temporary pediatric respite center. Today, two of its regulars are in the house for the day. Young adolescent Campbell suffers from a multitude of health issues including being blind and deaf. Fifteen year old Sienna has a form of muscular dystrophy. Sienna's emotional issues may become more paramount as she is otherwise a regular teenager who is going through puberty but whose medical issue makes it that much more difficult, as her mother has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, and as she knows that within a few years she will no longer be eligible to use Roger's House as a legal adult. And the medical staff at the Charles V. Keating Emergency & Trauma Centre in Halifax has the difficult task of dealing with patients who they may not know and thus whose medical histories, especially as it may relate to the reason for being in the hospital, are also unknown. Because of the high volume of patients, they are triaged then placed in priority order. Today, eighty-eight year old Angus gets immediate attention being brought in by ambulance from a car accident. The doctor is more concerned about his cardiac condition than he is about the surface abrasions and lacerations. Mervyn, who dropped something on his foot puncturing the skin, his foot which has now swelled, has a bit longer wait than Angus, but who takes it in stride as free health care,

On the north shore of Metro Vancouver, Dr. Paul Sugar is a GP who specializes in palliative care. Without an office or support staff, he travels from patient to patient. His view is that unlike weddings, many of which one person can have in their life, everyone will die only once and as such should place more effort into planning for that - which includes living the rest of their life - than they seem to for such things as weddings. Today, he will visit with James, who is suffering from an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and fifty-nine year old Harvey who suffers from end stage ALS. In that planning, the most important discussion he may have today is with Christine, who is at stage IV breast cancer, about her recent decision to discontinue radiation and chemotherapy. In Hamilton, Amy, now a teenager, was born with bone spurs on her hip. The pain and severity of the situation has been exacerbated by Amy being a competitive dancer. As less invasive forms of therapy have proven unsuccessful such as physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory medication, Amy is going into surgery today to repair her left hip, the right hip which was previously done. Despite the memory of the pain and longer than expected recovery associated with the right hip surgery, Amy will endure this short term pain for what she hopes is longer term gain. Such orthopedic surgery has the longest wait time of any surgery in Canada, up to ten months. Quest in St. Catharines is a medical clinic specializing in treatment for people who face barriers to health care. Twenty-eight year old Cohen is post-operative breast surgery transitioning female to male, he going in for one of his maintenance hormone treatments. Seventeen year old McKenzie, with the support of her mother, is in the fourth year of transitioning from male to female. Being a minor, McKenzie is not yet allowed to go in for reassignment surgery, and will probably be at least two years on the waiting list once she does become of age in addition to needing to go in for mental health assessment. In Toronto, young adolescent Alexis was born without a left forearm. Because of her growth spurts, she is being refitted for a new prosthetic arm, which she will be taught to use. Lexie's own muscle impulse will allow the fingers of the prosthetic to open and close. The doctors and her mother are hoping that it will make Alexis feel like any other child, thus being able to do the activities of her peers. In Montreal, Ed is in the hospital having his fourth surgery in nine years to remove a recurring non-malignant tumor pressing against his left brain. The previous three surgeries were unable to stop that regrowth, as any tumorous cells left in the body will regrow. The doctors are hoping that a new piece of equipment and a new procedure will today stop that regrowth by identifying any cells that are tumorous. Beyond that issue, the doctors still have to be careful with this entire surgery not to disrupt any brain function in the area of the tumor - namely affecting speech and short term memory - and the vision in his left eye as the tumor is pressing against his optic nerve. And in Yellowknife, the emergency ward in Stanton Territorial Hospital, one of the busiest in the north, faces special challenges in the large area it covers, meaning that some patients have difficult and long journeys to make it in, and the relatively small resources it has in comparison to southern hospitals, making the work flow difficult to anticipate and thus manage for staff. Dr. Wilkinson is on duty this afternoon, she who will see among others Joseph just flown in from a First Nations community 200 kilometers away, he who looks to be suffering from internal bleeding from medication. She also talks about her and her husband's decision to move to the north three years ago.

The Bridge Clinic in Vancouver deals specifically with patients who are in the government refugee system. Staff face the difficult tasks of understanding the patients' needs not knowing their history and often not knowing what medication they are taking, as well as understanding the life changes they are facing as refugees. Today, Nidaq is in the clinic dealing with the emotional trauma of her journalist daughter being murdered back in her native Iraq, she suffering from nightmares as a consequence. In Kamloops, Randi, with her husband at her side, is in the hospital in labor. This is her third pregnancy. The last one, where she was required to come into this same ward, ended with a stillborn child at thirty-seven weeks. Randi can't help but have the emotions of that last experience wash over her as her labor progresses. The White Raven Healing Centre of the All Nations Healing Hospital is located in Fort Qu'Appelle. Many people will be coming into the centre today as Michael, a healer, will be present, he using indigenous practices in his healing techniques, which are used in conjunction with western medicine. In Ottawa, Tina is in the hospital to have a preventative mastectomy and the start of reconstructive breast surgery, something she has contemplated doing for years. Her other breast was removed twenty years ago due to cancer, she at high risk to develop it again in the breast that will be dealt with today. She has many more choices today than she had twenty years ago, but is still apprehensive if only because of the psychological connection she has between breasts and womanhood. In Montreal, Dr. Bloom is a psychiatrist who is a resident at among other places the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. Today, he has as a patient Pascale, who will be receiving the latest electroshock therapy treatment to deal with her severe depression, psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy which have proven to be unsuccessful. Another patient he visits is Darlene, who has been in the ward this time for a few weeks, she who suffers from schizophrenia and who has attempted suicide before. Dr. Bloom wants to lessen her anxiety so that she can be well enough to go home without those suicidal thoughts. And at the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre in St. John's, Dr. Landells has as patients an elderly woman with unusually recurring skin cancer, primarily on her face, which has required major facial reconstructive surgery, but who is always optimistic about her life, and twenty-seven year old Sarah, who also suffered a small skin cancer on her leg.

Staff at the Crossroads Clinic, in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, treat people with severe disorders associated to illicit use of opiates - such as heroin - with pharmaceutical grade opiates to manage their addictions, as other medical treatments have not worked in their situations. While managing the addictions is the primary reason for the clinic, the medical staff there deal with the patients holistically with whatever issues they are facing regardless of it is associated with the addiction. Dave and Carol are two such patients in the clinic today, their medical issue stories which are vastly different. While Dave, Carol and other patients are getting care in the clinic, the sound of first responder sirens outside are a constant reminder that there are addicts who are not getting care and who are dying out on the street, many of them who did whatever it took to get the money to buy the drugs. Also in Vancouver, eighty year old dialysis patient Hans is too old to be on the kidney transplant list. He can get a transplant if he supplies his own donor, which he has in the form of his fifty year old daughter Cindy. With Cindy and Hans scheduled to go into back-to-back surgeries, the person who has perhaps the most difficult day with regard to this case is Hans' wife/Cindy's mother, Willa, who not only will wait through both surgeries but will be worried about the welfare of two of her loved ones. If Hans' surgery is successful, he will probably never have to go on dialysis again. In Edmonton, Jamie, with her husband Chris by her side, will soon give birth to their third child. As with the first two, this delivery will be done by Cesarean section, recommended for women who have already had one in previous births. The rate of C-sections in Canada is increasing, due to fetuses now being larger, a greater rate of diabetes which affects the viability of natural labor, and women having babies later in their life. Despite C-sections being routine with over one-quarter of deliveries in Canada being done in this manner, it is still major surgery with possible complications. In Hamilton, fifty-two year old Shirley was diagnosed with colon cancer a few months ago. She is among the one percent of colon cancer patients whose cancer has metastasized to her brain as a first step. She has already had surgeries to remove the colon cancer and remove one of the brain tumors. Today, Shirley will be going in for a new treatment to deal with the two remaining brain tumors. The cyberknife treatment will be done with a $4 million+ piece of equipment, only one of four in Canada. With pinpoint accuracy, it will provide high doses of radiation to the tumors hopefully to shrink them and stop them from growing so that they can be removed in their entirety. Rather than be fearful, Shirley is excited about how the treatment will allow her to move forward in life. In Toronto, one year old Sasha, who was born deaf, received cochlear implants one month ago. Those implants will be turned on and tested today to see if they are working and if Sasha is indeed hearing with them, which medical staff can gage based on her reactions and brain wave activity. While her mother Amber is looking forward to the first words Sasha hearing being that she loves her, Sasha will have to adjust to having this new sense, which is a totally foreign concept to her. Also in Toronto, Dr. Pham is a general practitioner in the east side of the city whose largely mobile practice is to treat those who have accessibility challenges to health care for whatever reason, and thus who often fall through the cracks of the system. Her practice is not only mobile but through cyberspace where she can have remote consultation sessions with patients and supervise their care using telemedicine.

In Richmond, Nigel is in the hospital to undergo laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, only the latest measure in an overall weight management program to deal with his obesity. He was required to lose some weight off of what was his 500 pound frame, which he has done. Today's procedure will reduce the size of his stomach from that of a football to that of a banana. Nigel is concerned about if the results will be effective for him in the long run, as he realizes he does have an eating addiction, and unlike alcoholics who should abstain from drinking, it's not like Nigel can give up food. His biggest concern is learning that his tastes will be affected, and he doesn't want to lose the love for his favorite food, chicken. In Vancouver, Elaine has entered the emergency ward of St. Paul's Hospital, with irregular heartbeats and upper abdominal tightness, which the emergency room doctor will check to see if it is the sign of a heart attack and/or heart damage. Also in Vancouver, Teresa, a canine detection handler, is in Vancouver General Hospital to do a clinical trial with her latest canine subject, eleven month old Angus, who is going through training to detect C. difficile, which is considered one of the super-bugs plaguing hospitals. If Angus eventually passes his training, which so far has been for over half his life, he will be the first dog in Canada and only the second worldwide that will be trained to detect the bug. In Hamilton, three and a half week old Joey was born to single mom Amanda two and half months premature with a birth weight of just under 800 grams. Joey has remained in the hospital in critical condition with a plethora of health issues. Despite his size and precarious health, his doctors and other medical staff classify him as being feisty. Joey's situation is difficult for Amanda, who has to be at the hospital every day to be mother to Joey while her six year old son stays with Amanda's parents. Today, Joey will undergo two surgeries, one on the brain and the other on the bowel which are only the latest measures to deal with Joey's overall health. In Chisasibi, Dr. Kitty, of Cree ancestry, has recently returned home to work with the predominantly Cree population of the area. Her biggest concern for the Cree people in general is the high rate of diabetes, which she attributes largely to living western ways, in the process losing much of their indigenous life. From a diet perspective, that life consisted largely of animal protein, instead of the processed foods purchased in the stores. And because of no longer hunting and trapping for food, the people have become much more sedentary. She sees getting back to living off the land as part of the solution. And in Wolfville, thirty-three year old Krystle moved into the L'Arche Homefires Community Home three months ago after living her entire life with her parents. She is severely disabled, suffering from spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She requires around the clock care, which her parents physically could no longer provide, with her caregivers needing to provide support in almost everything she does. She is mentally aware, consulted about all aspects of her day, and lives life to the fullest. Today, her buddy Joseph, one of her caregivers, will be taking her out on the town for an outing, which he finds special and hopes that she does as well. Today, she will also receive a visit from her mother, Marguerite, who stayed away for the first two months to give both Krystle and her and her husband the needed transition to Krystle's new living situation.