This article is an opinion piece. The views presented reflect the author’s personal experiences.
After sitting for 14 hours while shifting in and out of consciousness, I left the Ottawa General Campus hospital without clear answers. My experience is familiar to many across Ontario who are seeking medical attention in hospital emergency rooms.
During my competitive dance career, I was the recipient of numerous blows to the head, resulting in concussions. These injuries put me in the ER, waiting for hours on end.
SecondStreet.org reports that nearly 4 million Canadians are currently waiting for surgeries, scans, and specialists. The wait for these life saving appointments are causing Canadians to die, likely due to disorganized data and funding.
My last year dancing with Raven’s Dance Pak was during the 2023-2024 season.
The concussion occurred in December of 2023, but I put my body through intense pain, blurry vision, constant nausea, and bouts of unconsciousness to finish off the season.
In March of 2024, I woke up the morning after our last competition unable to move, calling out for help from one of my roommates. I did not go to the hospital out of fear that I would be ignored, dismissed, or likely waiting for hours without answers.
The Fraser Institute reports that wait times for healthcare across Canada increased from 2023 to 2024. These times shot up 222% since 1993, just over 30 years ago.
I decided to stop dancing for the sake of my health. However, my brain had a different plan and my health continued to worsen.
Eleven months after the initial concussion, my daily pain made regular tasks increasingly difficult. Sitting in lecture halls with bright LED overhead lights and rows of laptops with blue light piercing my eyes like a high pitched ring.
Pages and pages of lecture notes with trailed off handwriting because I slowly lost consciousness in the back of class. Worst of all, leaving classes due to overwhelming nausea from pounding headaches and over-the-counter pain relievers.
The first time I sought ER attention for my symptoms was on November 9, 2024. I was told intense migraines did not constitute a CT scan or MRI. ER Dr. Jennifer Clow did not address my other active symptoms.
I described significantly blurry vision drifting in and out like a camera, a loud ringing in my right ear, and presented a slight tick in my neck. She prescribed me an anti-inflammatory painkiller and referred me to a concussion clinic. Concussion360 denied my referral because my concussion did not occur within the year.
Three days later, I waited 11 hours in the ER before getting a room and two more hours before seeing a doctor. Dr. Zachary MacDonald provided me with a “migraine cocktail” IV to reduce my pain and referred me to the Ottawa Hospital’s neurologist, Dr. John Brooks. I was sent home with a 5 out of 10 pain, but I was satisfied with the referral and my treatment.
My symptoms persisted for several months, however I learned to manage with physiotherapy and over-the-counter pain relievers.
On April 9, 2025, nearly five months after my initial visit, my roommates brought me to the ER because I was painfully screaming in response to violent neck spasms, often resulting in fainting. Dr. Kevin Guo provided the same “migraine cocktail” and sent me home when my pain returned to baseline. He told me my referral to neurology had been accepted and that I should wait for a call.
Over 24 hours later, the spasms spread to my lower body and increased in speed presenting a “seizure-like-episode.” I called an ambulance for myself and waited for seven hours in the ambulance bay hallway before receiving a room. Dr. Amanda Mattice provided a similar “migraine cocktail” paired with an anxiety reliever and a higher grade painkiller.
She could not provide any answer that was different from what I already knew. I asked her to contact neurology and move up my appointment, which was not yet set. Dr. Mattice initially refused to call the department, but conveniently changed her mind when Roselyn Pecus showed up and introduced herself as my mother and lawyer.
That evening, I was visited by neurologist Dr. Grimes and Dr. Brooks who spoke with my mom, my roommates, and I for several hours. Dr. Alexander Brooks diagnosed me with Functional Neurological Disorder, determining that the wiring of my brain was disrupted by multiple concussions resulting in physical symptoms.
There are multiple factors that contributed to the worsening of my symptoms including a lack of research into concussions and my stubborn inability to seek help. However, my health significantly worsened due to Ontario healthcare’s extended wait times and the doctor’s dismissal of my symptoms to make space for other patients.