I did ring the consultant’s secretary last week (Weds) and was told my results were going to be discussed by the team on Thursday. As I had asked for a letter stating my diagnosis with a copy to my GP so I could discuss it with him I thought by now I would have got a letter.
Their normal procedure seems to be to discuss the results on Thursday, invite women up to the hospital the following Friday and then present them with the treatment plan they have come up with.
i will be missing out on this. Good. Anyway I hope to go to a specialist breast cancer hospital as I don’t like general hospitals one bit
Hi Seagulls
I can understand your impatience. However, at this stage, it’s essential they have all the relevant information to make your final (?) diagnosis and create the right treatment plan for you, as each breast cancer is unique. As far as I’m aware, once your diagnosis is made, you are under the care of the Oncology Unit. Your GP will be informed of what is going on routinely by letter but generally they are not part of this process. I’m almost certain everything will be discussed with you before the information goes to your GP, which is the right way. After that, your GP my be involved in your general health because that continues on its own merry way and doesn;t stop for cancer. If you’re lucky, your GP may discuss it with you but they are not part of the treatment plan generally. I got dismissed by my GP, saying “I have no experience of chemotherapy side effects”. I wish I’d said “Get some!”.
There is plenty of time for your Friday appointment letter to arrive but that’s in the hands of admin. It might be possible to ring them and ask about your appointment as you are anxious you haven’t received one yet. Alternatively, you could ring your breast care nurse/team and they can look it up on the system. However, you are going to have to resign yourself to a lot of waiting and you are going to need a lot of patience from now on. The whole cancer system is strained.
I have come across a mixed bag of experiences, some in favour of being treated in smaller hospital units, some preferring the bigger hospitals. I’m treated at a Regional Centre of Excellence. I can’t fault the treatment I’ve received - but only because I have learnt that 10am may mean 11.15, “a couple of weeks” may turn out to be 4 or 5. No amount of outcry is going to change this when the NHS is almost 50% short of radiologists, reported recently in the news. Also of course, my hospital’s resources are being stretched to the limits by patients requesting referral to the RCE rather than being treated at their own hospital!
Any delay at this stage will not be doing you harm. The oncology team would never put you at risk. I think most people imagine cancer cells running rampant here, there and everywhere but, unless you have one of the aggressive forms of cancer, this isn’t the case. Most breast cancers are relatively sluggish and, in any case, treatment sorts them out.
I hope you receive some news soon and that it’s good news but do cut them some slack - they aren’t immune to Covid, they earn their leave and, at times, ‘normal procedures’ may vary. Best wishes/fingers crossed for you.
Jan