I had to cancel my post surgery appointment as there was no-one available to come with me to get my results and treatment plan and I didn’t want to go on my own to hear the news. I only got 2 days notice!
Appointments team said that the breast team manage their own appointments so to contact them. The phone number gets through to an answering service and although I have left 2 messages over several days no-one has got back to me. I’ll be 7 weeks post op on Monday and the waiting for results is really affecting me now.
Any suggestions as to what I can do? This is the first blip in my up to now faultless care.
Thank you
Holly
Could you maybe try and find the number for the breast unit reception then explain the situation ? I think it’s standard for the nurses line to pretty much always be an answering machine as most of their time will be spent in clinic rather than at their desk it’s frustrating when you would like a quick response to your call .
My BCN has a secretary can you see if she has one of those to speak too? I only know this as when I needed a dressing appointment my bcn told me she’d get the secretary to sort and ring me back which she did.
7 weeks is a very long time to be waiting. When I was getting no where trying to sort out radiotherapy dates I contacted PALS and I was contacted the next day with an appointment. I was nervous doing this but felt I was being ignored. I was worried at the delay in treatment. PALS were superb. I hope things are sorted soon for you. Best wishes Joan xx
Agree with you Jill, try the breast unit reception number then if no joy, you should have the name of your surgeon and he will have a secretary so get put through to them. In my experience the consultants secretaries are always empathic and will escalate and get things sorted do let us know how you get on and hopefully you get some answers this week Shi xx
After 4 attempts over the space of 10 days someone actually answered the phone today rather than the answering service. It was the admin lady as my new BCN doesn’t work on Wednesdays.
Apparently there is ‘no capacity’ in my consultant’s clinic and he doesn’t allow them to add someone to the list. The nurse is trying to sort it but short of a cancellation there is nothing available for the foreseeable future. I did say that it would have been nice if someone had communicated this with me rather than leaving me wondering if my messages had got through.
It looks like there is a problem with the messaging service as they only got 1 message and the lovely lady said that it should have been just an answering machine to leave a message rather than having to press various keys to leave a message.
Not knowing is really getting to me. I can’t sleep or settle to anything. I’m not bothered about waiting for the next step, whatever that might be, I just want to know the results of the surgery and what I am facing. I can’t face Christmas not knowing.
Given that you are now 7 weeks post op I would have thought the team would be wanting you to move on to whatever further treatment is needed . Could you maybe ask for a telephone appointment with your BC nurse to discuss the results pending seeing the Consultant then at least you would have some idea what to expect . Your GP may be able to help move things along in some way if you explain how anxious this is making you ? As a final resort you could go to the hospital PALS team and ask if they can intervene .
Hi I haven’t got much to add to the previous replies other than just to say that you’re not being unreasonable - 7 weeks is a long time to be left hanging. I had a 4 week wait for surgical results which I was told was longer than usual bcs of a shortage of pathologists (I had an appointment though which made such a difference - I could just put it out of my mind until the date) - so 7 weeks feels really long. For me it was the next stage - from surgery to oncology - where I was left without a next appointment for what felt like months - I think we can cope with the wait if we know how long it will be but when we don’t have a date the uncertainty becomes almost unbearable. I also found my BCNs really unhelpful at this stage - the answer machines are a real barrier I think - and inevitably when they finally rang back I was in the middle of a mtg which was very hard. I do realise that they’re incredibly busy but for me keeping a job etc going alongside all this was important and that wait without an appointment was by far the worst period for me in terms of my mental health. Looking back on it (I’m now about 5 months post-treatment) I wish I’d pushed more - but at the time I think I felt so overwhelmed that I didn’t feel able to. Do you have an email address for the BCN team? I got a really good response when I poured everything about how I was feeling into an email - although by then I’d also done my own detective work and tracked down consultants secretaries who like others have said were incredibly empathetic and responsive. I also would now be much quicker to contact PALS - I didn’t - I think I was worried about being seen as an awkward patient - but a friend with cancer has made regular use of that team and says they have been great for him - and he has an excellent relationship now with his consultants etc. Good luck - I really feel for you x
do let us know how you get on and hopefully you get some answers this week 
