Today, I had my first set of Cancer pre-screening / prevention tests today.  I had four cancer screenings done, it was my first time for all of them. 

First of all , I would like to explain that I went to a city group cancer screening , in comparison with Canada , Canada only has mobile vans for Breast Cancer screening. So, going to something like this was new for me. My husband had to come with me , because there was a lot of medical terms used in Japanese that I didn`t know. 

Let me explain that by Japanese way of counting years/ age  ( April- April)  I am now considered 40 years old , but by Canada Calander I am still 39  ( month of your birth Feb to Feb) . 

So, today I had 4 cancer tests :  Breast, Colon, Stomach and Lung. The hardest was the stomach test, during and after , LOL, my husband had to do alot of intrupretting for the x-ray tech for the stomach braium x-ray . 

So , I was curious when does Canada start doing Cancer screening for prevention compared to Japan and I did some research  which is as follows :

In Japan: (pays a fee of 30% of the cost after insurance ) 

For Women only :
Cervical Cancer  - starts age 20
Breast Cancer - touch test starts age 20 , and mammograms are every 2 years after the age of 40. 

For Everyone :

Colon, Stomach and Lung Cancer testing starts at age 40 .


In Canada: ( all tests are free , as part of the health care system ) 

For Women :

Cervical Cancer - starts age 25 
Breast Cancer - Touch test starts age 25 and Mammogram starts at age 50 and done every 2 years.

For Everyone:

Colon Cancer - starts age 50 and done every 2 years

Stomach Cancer - starts age 50.

Lung Cancer - starts age 50 and ends age 74 and done once a year - or as recommmend by your family doctor.

So the question is why does Canada start testing 10 years later then Japan?

Answer  ( I looked it up !! ) 

1. Cost . The Government of Canada doesnt want to pay the costs for these tests as often.

2.  Apprently, statistics show that in Canada people dont tend to have cancer issues until around age 50 and the rate of these cancers is dropping.  Where as in Japan the rate of some of these cancers are quite high in comparison.... I wonder why?  

So, although my status is set to vacation for the next few days , I am actually doing many medical tests.

My cancer screening results will be delivered by mail sometime in January 2022.  Fingers crossed everything is ok !

Hope you are all staying well, and get your Cancer screenings  done every year !!  

warmly,

StephanieRiann