Why was cancer not spotted?

seven-day-weekend

My dear friend, who has been going back and forward to the Dr with various symptoms since January, has now been told he has terminal cancer and has three months to live. He is not 60 yet, He's due to die around his 60th birthday.

It is primary in his brain and secondary in his groin, back and lungs.

The thing is, he went for a scan some months ago (of his groin) and was told he had a hernia. He also had blood vessels burst in his eyes, they went red, he was told it was 'only' his blood pressure. Given BP tablets, no further investigation.

I'm bothered by this. Surely the cancers were there then? If so, why did no-one pick it up on any of it, or at least look for it, given his symptoms, and especially as he had very aggressive skin cancer some years ago.

I really do think (not just from this episode, but from others including things that have happened to me ), that the role of the GP appears to be to fob people off with facile excuses until they either die or get better, purely to keep them out of hospital or to stop them using any expensive equipment or having any expensive procedures.

I'm not normally cynical, but this isn't the first time this has happened to someone I know. My m-i-l had a stroke, while in hospital and no-one noticed until we came to visit her and pointed it out.

I have made a vow, I will NOT be fobbed off, I will insist on having any symptom thoroughly investigated. I will make sure the same goes for my loved ones. If my poor friend had been diagnosed earlier, he may have had a chance, even if he didn't he could at least have done his 'bucket list'.

Sorry about the rant.

floss2

I appreciate that you are angry that his life and your friendship are to be cut short; it could be that the first scan did not show anything untoward - your friend may be unfortunate to have a fast developing type of cancer.

It could also be symptomatic of the workload of hospital staff, in that the time to thoroughly examine every single scan /x-ray/test result is not there due to the volume to be checked and the cost of the staff it would require being prohibitive.

I hope that by letting your feelings out on here, you are enabling yourself to be the support you obviously are to your friend.

seven-day-weekend

Thanks Floss, yes I AM angry, but thought I would get it out on here, my husband and I are supporting our friend and his wife in whatever way we can.

I DO think he has been fobbed off though, he has been going to the Docs since January! I knew someone else, some years ago, who did the same, with a lump on her sternum, she was just told that she was 'too young' to have the breast cancer that killed her in her twenties.

I will insist in future on any prolonged symptom I or my loved ones have being thoroughly investigated, or go private if I have no joy. This is one thing my friend's experience has taught me.

valk_scot

If the primary was in his brain there probably weren't any secondaries in his groin a few months ago to pick up on the scan, or they were too small. Or they were looking for the hernia the symptoms suggested and when they found it, or lack of it, the scan was completed.

The brain cancer would have required a highly sophisticated scan to pick it up and really, they're not done lightly on vague symptoms. It's not like having an X-ray for a broken leg, bish bash and they're finished. Tying up an hour of this sort of scarce and expensive resource every time someone has a common symptom most readily explained by a common problem is...well, you've got to start with the most likely problem, not throw the big guns at it immediately. The NHS just doesn't have the resources to brain scan everyone for this mild symptom, they need the scanners for the important stuff. It's just very unfortunate that your friend was one of the very rare people who would have benefitted from an earlier brain scan.

If you want to do something constructive in your friend's memory and to benefit your own family, start lobbying for more resources in the NHS. We'll have to up our taxes a bit, it won't be popular, few people want to pay more for something they're mostly convinced they won't need. If you're prepared to pay for a higher level of service than the NHS can provide, go private, though this guarantees nothing much once you come to cancer treatment as private companies don't much like expensive diseases.

Having said all that I do agree though that it's wise to be pro-active about health care and make sure you understand what's going on and make sure your appointments come through and you're not left dangling. But ask yourself honestly, if you went in with a vague symptom that your GP was confident was due to something minor, would you really be insisting on a full body scan to check it was not cancer, every time?

marisco_2

I am sorry to hear what a dear friend of yours is going through. You sound like a very thoughtful person and I am sure you will be of great comfort and support to him and his wife when they need people most.

seven-day-weekend

valk_scot wrote: »

If the primary was in his brain there probably weren't any secondaries in his groin a few months ago to pick up on the scan, or they were too small. Or they were looking for the hernia the symptoms suggested and when they found it, or lack of it, the scan was completed.

The brain cancer would have required a highly sophisticated scan to pick it up and really, they're not done lightly on vague symptoms. It's not like having an X-ray for a broken leg, bish bash and they're finished. Tying up an hour of this sort of scarce and expensive resource every time someone has a common symptom most readily explained by a common problem is...well, you've got to start with the most likely problem, not throw the big guns at it immediately. The NHS just doesn't have the resources to brain scan everyone for this mild symptom, they need the scanners for the important stuff. It's just very unfortunate that your friend was one of the very rare people who would have benefitted from an earlier brain scan.

If you want to do something constructive in your friend's memory and to benefit your own family, start lobbying for more resources in the NHS. We'll have to up our taxes a bit, it won't be popular, few people want to pay more for something they're mostly convinced they won't need. If you're prepared to pay for a higher level of service than the NHS can provide, go private, though this guarantees nothing much once you come to cancer treatment as private companies don't much like expensive diseases.

Having said all that I do agree though that it's wise to be pro-active about health care and make sure you understand what's going on and make sure your appointments come through and you're not left dangling. But ask yourself honestly, if you went in with a vague symptom that your GP was confident was due to something minor, would you really be insisting on a full body scan to check it was not cancer, every time?

Thanks for your sensitive and sensible reply. No of course I would not insist on a full body scan every time, but I also will not be fobbed off with 'come back in five weeks' either, which is what is happening to me at the moment. I am going to go in today again with this problem I have had with my leg for months and ask to be referred to a physiotherapist. I'm not going to let him sit there looking at his computer screen and saying 'well I wonder what we can do about that then?' I'm going to tell him what I want him to do and sit there until it is done.

My friend has in the past rung ME up and asked about his symptoms, I asked him what the Dr had said, - lumbago, sciatica, hernia, high blood pressure, overwork - not once did anyone look for anything else or refer him upwards, other than for the scan when the hernia was found, even though he had been ill for months and had cancer before.

I feel he has been let down.

I for one would be more than happy to pay more taxes for the NHS -maybe also we could divert those that go towards foreign aid to countries that don't need it and illegal wars.

Thanks again for your input.

Cooper18

I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

Re scans - perhaps, like others have said, the spread wasn't there a few months ago. Highly likely. And also not all scans pick up all disease, in fact no scans can do that. Most are great at "seeing" some things while being rubbish at seeing others.

Dunroamin

I'm sorry to hear about your friend and I do feel that this sort of thing is common within the NHS, particularly when you're older.

I must confess that, even as a socialist, for years we've had either private health insurance or (when that was no longer affordable) the sort of policy that pays 50% of a consultant's costs as well as some tests, which has been a life saver many times.

justme111

Yes I am afraid of something wrong happening to me , having seen how deficient NHS system is. The worst is that nobody will acknowledge its limitations and give you a choice because if someone admits the extent it is unworkable to it is that one may say bye to his or her career.its all a big lie. So I am afraid I will not know what could /should be done , if I knew I could have at least make a choice whether to pay for it privately

seven-day-weekend

Dunroamin wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear about your friend and I do feel that this sort of thing is common within the NHS, particularly when you're older.

I must confess that, even as a socialist, for years we've had either private health insurance or (when that was no longer affordable) the sort of policy that pays 50% of a consultant's costs as well as some tests, which has been a life saver many times.

What policy is that? I would be interested in having a look.

mazza111

I wrote a big long post and managed to delete it. ARGH!!!! Sorry surgery myself yesterday and brain drain working to a T.

A similar thing has happened in our family too. My mother with a kidney tumour that wasn't picked up on, despite scans. It took her haemmorhaging in Spain before it was picked up. Thankfully it was contained in the one kidney and it could be removed.

My nephew was born with a queried clicking hip. Went to hospital with him for years and they couldn't find anything wrong. An over anxious mother and a doting grandmother was what one Sister said... On his 3rd birthday, they sent him to the big childrens' hospital and done a brain scan. He had a tumour growing from the middle of his brain mushrooming out the way, it couldn't have been surgically removed even if they found it earlier, they opened him up to see if they could relieve he pressure a bit, but to no avail. He died less than a month later.


I guess what I'm trying to say is, sometimes when a tumour is in the brain, the symptoms are not always so obvious, like the wee man with his clicking hip.. It was the messages getting mixed from brain to hip. And sometimes scans don't always pick things up, especially if they are done maybe a week too early on a fast growing cancer, like they were with my mother.


I feel for your friend, it's such a bombshell after being going for treatment for so long. My thoughts are with you x