“I have to look for life to be able to get to my chemotherapy sessions in Zamora from Olmillosbecause they deny me the ambulance”. Pura is a neighbor of Olmillos de Valverde diagnosed with breast cancer in the left breast. This neighbor from the Benaventana region explains that, In addition to the problems already associated with the disease she suffers from and the harshness of her treatment, she adds the difficulties that her transfer to the health center entails.
He started his chemotherapy cycles every 21 days in the month of January. In his first cycle from Primary Care, a “flyer” was made to carry out his transfer by ambulance from his home to the Zamora hospital. “But not anymore, I’ve only had an ambulance the first day.”
In the second cycle, he had to count on the help of his son, who works in Bretó and was forced to stop working that day in order to lend a hand during the transfer to Zamora. Pura remembers that after her chemotherapy session “I came all the way throwing up. You don’t even know what to do, whether to go back to Zamora or continue home. It is not something that I wish for anyone,” says the neighbor of Olmillos.
On the 13th he has another cycle planned and, for the moment, he does not know how he will be able to get to his appointment in Zamora. “I have gone to Patient Care and they told me that I am very well to come by public transport. The bus comes to Olmillos on Tuesdays and Fridays, and I have the consultation on Monday. If I want to go by public transport I would have to look for someone to take me to Santovenia. From there the bus leaves at eight, so I don’t get to the consultation anymore. Another option would be to go to Benavente, but I don’t have a way to get there either,” says Pura.
This woman explains that not even these difficulties are the ones that worry her the most. “What they don’t understand is that when I’m not well is when I get chemo. I’m not so concerned about getting to Zamora as about going home, after the chemo session, because you never know how you’re going to get out and the experience is not that it has been good so far, ”laments the neighbor of Olmillos. “I don’t even object to having to wait for other people, as happened in the first cycle. Well, if I have to wait, I wait, but at least that I can make the transfer in good conditions, the best possible.”
The current situation is even more incomprehensible for Pura since her husband has also suffered from cancer and in his case he did have an ambulance for the transfer to Zamora. “I don’t understand what has changed in such a short time.”
Regarding the alternatives that he has been given, he indicates that he has, as he has been informed, the possibility of staying in Zamora the day before the chemotherapy session to be able to arrive at her appointment at half past eight in the morning. “It is something that I do not even consider, and I still have the problem of returning, after the chemo I cannot come by public transport”. Another option is to “take a taxi and I can’t afford that. Unfortunately I don’t see a way out. I hope to have a solution before the 13th because I don’t want to stop going to chemo.”
