Holby City
Holby City Having just watched yesterday’s Holby City with my lunch, I was interested to see that the bc storyline has re-emerged, with Trish Williams being diagnosed with liver mets.
In the light of all the media talk about “All clear” and “Cured”, it’s good to see the BBC acknowledging that bc isn’t always done and dusted once primary treatment is finished. Let’s see how they deal with the development of this.
Kathy
I thought exactly the same
Tim
Holby storyline - I disagree entirely I could not disagree more with the two ladies’ opinion on the latest Holby City storyline.
When the breast issue was addressed before - using Trish as the sufferer, I thought it was absolutely great and inspiring that she got through it all in the end and managed to return to normal. Even though this is only fiction - I felt heartened that they were showing such a hopeful ending to the cancer storyline. We hear too many of the other kind of stories practically every day in newspapers and magazines.
Now they have returned to the cancer theme and I couldn’t be more upset at the turn the story is taking with Trish just finding out about a spread of her breast cancer to her liver. This has now really depressed me and made me question my own mortality now all over again - having had a mastectomy 18 months ago. I am sure we all live with the fear in the back of our minds of the cancer returning and to have this thrust in our face on one of our favourite soaps is very, very depressing. I can guess the way the story is heading (having heard that the actress who plays Trish is leaving the soap) and feel that I really do not want to watch any more and have my own fears brought to the surface once again. Come on BBC try to make this a happy ending for Trish once again.
Don’t watch Holby City but… I have to say that I tend to agree more with the first two postings. I find it really hard to get across to people that I have just cause to be worried about the possibility of recurrence or spread. The attitude I’m faced with is ‘you’ve been treated, it’s all over now’.
It’s got the point where I keep family and friends in the dark if I’m going for any tests, coz as much as I love them all I can’t face the constant reassurance that ‘everything is going to be just fine - you’ll see’.
My mother died in a hospice just a few short weeks from being diagnosed with metastatic cancer - the primary site was never investigated or found. She had been visiting the doctor for years with back and leg pain and was fobbed off that it was osteoporosis, old age etc., As a result of poor pain management, she had little quality of life. I watched her suffer and die. I will not allow my family to go through the same and I will not allow myself to be fobbed off the way she was.
I call it ‘galloping paranoia’ - if the pain/whatever hasn’t cleared up within the recommended 2 week period, I’ll push for tests or investigations to rule out mets.
I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that the public perception of us being ‘cured’ or ‘all clear’ after treatment means that I’m not allowed to voice my concerns without people judging me to be an attention seeker. If the BBC can show the reality - that some people (too many) can and do go on to develop mets and as a result may die from this rotten disease, then as long as it is handled sensitively and realistically, I for one have no problem with that.
I also appreciate your point Linda that it can be a negative thing when you’ve come to terms with what you’ve faced and just want to move on with your life. Without wanting to sound glib, it’s the age old adage of ‘you can’t please all of the people all of the time’ .
Karina
Soapland Bad things happen all the time in soapland, especially in hospital soapland. I don’t watch Holby but I’m surprised you haven’t all become worried about all the other medical conditions that they show.
I do have some inside knowledge for Linda though.
Trish hasn’t got liver mets at all.
When she was first diagnosed with breast cancer she promised herself that she would make sure that the rest of her life was much more exciting than simply working as a nurse at Holby City. So, as soon as the mastectomy surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy were over she told friends that she was going on a complementary and alternative therapy holiday for a few weeks to recover but secretly booked herself on a rock climbing and abseiling course.
Like many women diagnosed with breast cancer her finances weren’t in good shape . It suddenly came to her that she could use her new climbing skills together with her nursing skills to get rich quickly. She could ask well-heeled (or is that well-healed) patients about their possessions; if she did this when they were coming round from the anaesthetic they wouldn’t remember her questions. She could then use the climbing ropes and abseiling gear to scale their homes, disposable scalpels to prise open windows and the latest hi-tech portable MRI scanner to work out the safe combinations
Of course at first she felt rather guilty about the thefts but soon she realised that this was so much better than hanging around hoping that the love of her life - tedious Mark - would pay her more attention. Her home soon became filled with glittering loot.
On one of her nightly escapades she was startled to find another person opening the safe. It was Roger, a 6’6" blond, good-looking oncologist. He explained that he too had been in need of a more exciting life. “Even the BBC didn’t want to film me - somehow they didn’t think that liver slides were exciting enough.” he said, gazing deeply into her dewy eyes. “Why don’t we try a little …breaking and entering…together?”
Trish was pleased she had met Roger. Despite his cut-glass accent he was really from Albert Square in the East End. He knew plenty of people who could change the jewels into ready cash. Soon Trish’s money problems were over.
'I think it’s time we disappeared. It won’t be long before our bank managers are suspicious" said Trish one morning as she gazed at Roger’s muscular naked body beside her. “Good idea” he replied, “but we mustn’t disappear too suddenly; our colleagues and the viewers will become suspicious . How about you pretend that the breast cancer has returned. I’ll slip my liver slides into your medical records…” “Really darling” she murmured huskily. “Yes,” he said kissing her passionately. “We’ll make it look like you have liver mets and you can become a patient and slowly and emotionally fade away”. Trish thought for a moment . “I’ll look all doe eyed and desperate for the camera, no one will suspect a thing. But how will we get away?” “Easy,” he said. “After the funeral you can use the disposable scalpels to open the coffin lid and use these artificial hip joints to dig your way to the surface. I’ll be waiting nearby in the porsche and we can hire a plane to take us to…”. “Melbourne, Australia” she gasped excitedly. “There’s this lovely suburb called Erinsburgh. We could live on Ramsey Street and we’d have such wonderful Neighbours…”
I get your point SuperSue Very funny and a good way to look at things - just laugh at them. I feel better already!
Linda
Bloomin heck girl, you had me going there!! Well SuperSue - I’m gobsmacked! I am ashamed to admit it took me a couple of minutes to realise what you were up to there!!
Have you thought about ‘doing a Janelle’ (I hope that’s the right name- the Timmins mother in Neighbours?) and writing a book? You have a marvellous imagination and I reckon if you’re not wiriting seriously yet you should defiitely think about taking it up.
You had me laughing out loud and people passing by were giving me funny looks for a while!!
Karina
Hi Linda & Karina Hi Linda & Karina,
Glad to be of service!
Hl,
Just popping in here from another forum.
I for one was pleased with the storyline - I know its everyone’s worse nightmare to find it has returned but in some cases it does. This has been like a taboo subject for far too long.
My mothers returned after many many years in her bones, now her liver and brain.
Speaking from experience there is not alot of information about secondaries and when mum has gone to various breast cancer meets/healthy living days etc. sometimes she is looked at in horror as she has had it returned, to the point where sometimes she feels guilty saying as she doesn’t want to upset someone going through or who have had b/c.
Nobody knows about it, they assume thats it then… but mum has had it stablised and living a relatively normal life for several years now.
I hope they get their facts right in the storyline.
Katie x
Thank you Katie. Hi Katie, I just wanted to thank you for your post, like your Mum I also have secondaries. I also have friends who like your Mum have felt unable to go to Healthy Living Days or who have left feeling upset for the same reasons you mention in your post.
I visit the forums less often these days because I’m feeling very well, I’m in remission and have been since last summer. I’m getting on with my life and cancer has taken a back seat. I hope your Mum continues to feel well.
I don’t watch the programme but like you hope they get the facts right.
Belinda…xx
Hi Hi All,
I hope that I haven’t offended anyone by my earlier missives. I don’t want to belittle in any way the fear of developing, or the difficulty and pain of having, secondaries.
Want I want to say is that soapland isn’t reality. Although Holby will have Trish’s BC mets as a storyline and that her story ought to be be shown in a factually accurate and thoughtful way, it might not be because in soapland there are other issues to consider. These include the date when the actress wishes to end her contract and whether the storyline is likely to snatch viewers from other channels.
Don’t expect too much of the soap.
A million best wishes to everyone.
Sue
Holby City Hi All
It’s not a programme I normally watch but I did follow the Trisha/Maggie storyline where the scriptwriters gave Maggie Lung mets.
Hers were discovered through chemo and I distinctly remember being horrified when Connie told her (after one bout of chemo) that she was chemo resistant and there was no more they could do.
I fully understand that soaps have to ‘speed up’ all their storylines otherwise we’d all be bored rigid and lose empathy with the character. I think Maggie lasted about 6 weeks from diagnosis to dying which we all know is possible but to make a comment like this is out of order. I have lung mets and none of my treatments have worked. I am about to start on more chemo following yet another failure. Had I been told the same thing as Maggie I would have given up a year ago!
Trisha on the other hand went on to recover. I think from this the scriptwiters were perhaps trying to show the different ways BC can go, which is good but they still need to get their facts straight.
Trisha has found she has liver mets just before having a reconstruction which again happened to me ( boy, was I mad and it took me a long time to get over it, too. I still yearn for one.)
They are referring to it as liver cancer which strictly speaking it isn’t.
However what makes me most laugh about this programme is how Connie, who is a cardiac consultant is dealing with any patient who appears! Why would a cardiac consultant give patient this news and where was the oncologist? Mine is elusive but does appear from time to time!
I too hope that it is handled well and with correct info but I suspect artistic licence will flow!
Love Panda xx
I have read an article somewhere (can’t remember where) that the actress who plays Connie Beauchamp (Beecham?) is a breast cancer survivor herself, and has been through a mastectomy and chemo herself, so I hope she would give the script writers some tips for trying to make the storyline as realistic as possible. But as others have said - it is a soap, and time frames tend to be different as everything has to happen so much faster.
I missed these relevant episodes but hope to catch up sometime…
Amanda Mealing Just checked this out and the actress who plays Connie (Amanda Mealing) had a mastectomy and recon in 2002.
holby/casualty ui do watch holby city and am finding the storyline upsetting thinking about my own sutuation. i also watch casualty and have been following ellen through her chemo problems and hair loss and feeling for her as i have been through it too. although fiction these programmes are researched well and very true to life
Connie didn’t give Tricia her results it was another one of the surgeons, can’t remember her name, but I thought it was odd that Tricia didn’t go to a breast clinic like the rest of us, but Holbyland isn’t anything resembling real life is it? Do you remember the story line with Elliot Hope rushing his wife into an operating theatre and performing a tracheotomy on her against her expressed wishes? Can you imagine that really happening?
I hope E Hope isn’t anywhere near if I end up in hospital. Or connie or any of her henchmen/women. The doctors in holby are deadly
Mole
Holby City Mole, I was referring to the earlier storyline when Maggie was given her mets results by Connie. She told her that the cancer had spread to her lungs and this meant she was chemo resistant and no further treatment was possible. Maggie was played by Samantha Beckinsale.
Amanda Mealing’s cancer was discovered whilst she was in hospital after giving birth to her second child. She discovered her lump whilst breastfeeding. Her chemo and reconstruction were followed on camera by GMTV.
Panda x
thanks panda i do remember the sam beckinsale character as she died in my pyjamas, the very ones I wore on the night before my segmental mastectomy.
I hope I live longer, but thanks for illuminating info on who told her she had mets, they do seem to specialise in non specialism at holby, jacks of all trades eh?
Mole
It was Diane who gave the results. You know, the disgraced surgeon who covered up for that bloke off Eastenders. Incidently, can anyone tell me why, despite interviewing just about everyone involved with that case no-one thought to ask the anaethetist who’d been there throughout and had discussed the prob with Diane?
To get back to the story though. I have to say it gave me an absolute chill when they discovered the liver mets particulary as she had no symptoms and it was found completely by accident. Made me wonder what hope the rest of us had. So, yes, I can definately see the point of not covering that kind of storyline.
On the other hand, the quick op, everything all over and hunkydory line is annoying. As you say, people tend to believe everything they see on soapland and can’t understand why we are still ‘moaning’ . After all Peggy Mitchell had one day in hospital and then was back behind the bar in the Queen Vic with, apparently, not so much as a follow-up appointment.
Wishing you all good health and happiness,
Love,
Valerie x