When To Give In

My brother-in-law is an American living in Canada and he refuses to get an OHIP health card so he can use our health system.  He has serious health problems that require him to make regular trips over the border to see his own doctors and it's worried me for a while that there might come a time when he is unable to do the driving needed...about an hour or so.

He has colon cancer and will be having surgery in the States on Friday but he has made numerous trips back and forth having all the tests his doctors have requested before doing the surgery.  Not only is this tiring for him but the price of gas is high and it's also an expensive proposition for him to make so many trips.  Many of the tests have been repetitions of tests already done and that has been an irritant, too.  Yesterday he drove over for a final catscan and was told he could pick up a prescription at the drugstore.  When he arrived at the drugstore, they hadn't received any notification from his doctor so he couldn't get it.  When he phoned the doctor, he was in surgery and couldn't be reached.  Now my brother-in-law has to make one more trip over to the States to get the prescription.  He said he sat in the parking lot and cried in frustration yesterday, all so unnecessary for this sick man.

In the past, I've tried repeatedly to convince him to get an OHIP card so he could use our health system in an emergency.  His refusal to look ahead to a time very much like this one has placed us all in a troubling situation.  I'm at a loss as to how to convince him that having the OHIP card would make everyone's life easier, especially his.

I can drive them to the hospital on Friday and over the weekend but I can't drive my sister to visit him in the evenings because I can't see to drive in the dark.  She has a day care so has to work through the day.  I am so fearful of him having a lengthy hospital stay that it's on my mind all the time.

The future possibilities/probabilities and all the things that will have to be dealt with in a foreign country have me worried sick.  The only thing I can do at this point is deal with one day at a time.  My brother-in-law is an angel in every way but he is so darned stubborn once he makes up his mind.

This is a message for everyone to have their affairs in order so that their loved ones will be able to tend to matters as easily as possible.