Hi Lilly
Thanks for your post.
It’s understandable you’re shocked and worried about having your first oncology appointment over the phone. Waiting for treatment to start can be a very difficult and anxious time.
As @BiRo and @Tigress have commented, telephone consultations seem to happen quite regularly now, and different oncology departments will do things in different ways according to the availability and capacity of consultants and their teams.
Your case and treatment will have been discussed at a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting, which means that the team discuss and agree your care rather than one specialist.
You can still ask all the questions you need to during the telephone consultation. If you’re not sure what would be helpful to ask you can find a list at the bottom of the webpage via the link above. You might also want to ask if your case was discussed at the MDT meeting. You can also ask that you have face to face consultations in the future as soon as this is possible.
Your breast care nurse is there to be your advocate, provide support and answer questions and it may be possible for you to meet her in person at this time, so you maintain some face to face contact with your team.
Talking to others who’ve had a similar experience can also often help at this time. Our Someone Like Me service can match you with a trained volunteer who’s had a similar experience to you. You can be in touch with your volunteer by phone or email and they can share their personal experiences to answer your questions, offer support or simply listen to how you are feeling.
You can ring the Someone Like Me team on 0114 263 6490 or email them at someone.likeme@breastcancernow.org, so they can then match you to your volunteer.
You may also wish to join the Chemotherapy monthly threads here on the forum so you can connect with others going through treatment at the same time.
Please do also call our helpline to talk this through more or ask any further questions. The helpline team have time to listen, talk things through and signpost you to more support and information if necessary. Your call will be confidential, and the number is free from UK landlines and all mobile networks. The number is 0808 800 6000, (Relay UK - prefix 18001).
If you would prefer one of our nurses to call you. To do this complete this form ticking the box agreeing to a call back.
Our usual opening hours are Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm and 9am - 1pm on Saturday.
Out of hours you can leave a message and we will call you back when we next open.
Best wishes
Catherine
Breast Care Nurse
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As we are unable to monitor for further replies, this thread will now be closed. If you have any additional questions or would like to provide feedback, please start a new thread, call our helpline, email us or request a call back