Why was cancer not spotted?

Errata

Armchair23 wrote: »

Many of us have come to think that all cancers can be easily diagnosed and cured. Science is such a wonderful thing.


The diagnosis and treatment of cancers really hasn't made that much progress in decades and the advances are often marginal and very expensive.
But we also need to be realistic about what treatment can offer us and our loved ones. And maybe sometimes just be sad not angry.
.

I was treated and am still monitored at a Regional Cancer Centre, the consultant sees only 3 or 4 cases like mine each year. Fortunately the mediaeval treatment of slash, poison and burn has worked, so far. Some productive research is being done which will enable the poison to be targetted more effectively - but it's still poison, and slashing will still be unavoidable.

pelirocco

Armchair23 wrote: »

Many of us have come to think that all cancers can be easily diagnosed and cured. Science is such a wonderful thing.

They just can't all be, but that's not something any of us find easy to deal with. I didn't.

Every time you pick up a paper there's an article about eating more tomatoes, not using antiperspirant or some wonder drug that's just around the corner and everything will be fine.

The diagnosis and treatment of cancers really hasn't made that much progress in decades and the advances are often marginal and very expensive.

Some cancers are slow to develop and stay within their original site, so maybe a bowel cancer stays in the bowel etc., But others grow incredibly quickly and dig in to other areas in the body and can be totally resistant to treatment.

So you might have prostate cancer in your shoulder bones or spine.
or lung cancer in your liver. This is what 'Mets' are.

So for every good news story you hear and thank God there are many, there will be some that don't work out and leave us devastated about what might have been.

If you really feel that there's been a failure by a GP or someone else then by all means make your voice heard and loudly if you have to.

But we also need to be realistic about what treatment can offer us and our loved ones. And maybe sometimes just be sad not angry.


My heart goes out to anyone with a diagnosis themselves or for a friend or family member. Nobody wants to be there.

I have to agree with this post , the only sure thing in life is that we will all die , some sooner then later . We dont have cure all for everything , cancer treatment has come along in great steps and treatment and survival rates are improving all the time , but all cancers are different , just because one person can be '' cured'' doesnt mean the next person can be.

I have not long lost a friend to cancer , she found a very small lump in her breast which turned out to be a high grade very agressive cancer , she was only in her thirties . 5/6 years down the line after a mastectomy , chemo and radio you would never have realised how ill she had been , then within a few weeks of getting headaches and one day collapsing they found she had multiple tumours on her brain , lungs , then kidneys .

What i am trying to say if someone who is still being monitored can develop secondary cancers out of the blue almost , there really is little chance of diagnosing a fast growing cancer in someone with non specific symtoms

It is normal to feel anger and think what if

Mrs_Ryan

to this day I am still very bitter about how my cancer was found, I complained to the hospital and started taking legal action but it was too much for me.

My GP was excellent and I still say she was the only one who ever truly believed my symptoms. It took 9 months to diagnose my cancer from first going to the GP and it was only found by accident during an op to remove a massive fibroid, which I only got because my Mum threatened to sue - I might add this was because I was massively anaemic because I had lost so much blood (as well as my hair) and I was on morphine because the pain was so bad. All I kept getting was 'you haven't completed your family so we wont do anything' and 'all we can do is fit a coil, if you continue refusing we will discharge you' (my GP had been very clear that it wouldn't be of benefit to me) the same doctor who had been snippy about treating me had to break the news that at 31, I had endometrial cancer and would need a total hysterectomy - to say she was sheepish was an understatement (she was apparently transferred out quick sharpish after that) and even my oncologist said that the type of cancer I had developed and how I had developed it was extremely rare in someone so young. She also said she could not be sure how long it had been there so they had to operate very quickly.

It shouldn't make a difference how old you are - my age went so much against me but I was lucky. OP, sorry to hear about your friend x

olibrofiz

I'm sorry to hear about your friend xx I hope his last few weeks/months are good for him.

Your post has made me feel quite angry tho, & I need to have a rant, because of:

My friends mum - trouble with her water works. As they sat around her hospital bed after she'd had an op docs said to my friend 'you DO know your mum has bladder cancer?' No, neither my friend, nor her mum, or any of the family knew that. She died a few weeks later.

Same friend - her dad fell ill a number of years later and admitted to hospital - docs 'you DO know he has bone cancer don't you?' - Once again, no, and her dad didn't either. He deteriorated rapidly.

Another friend, been to the docs with various ailments over the years. Happened to go for another matter and the doc said 'you DO know you've got MS don't you?' No, she didn't. Docs response (uncomfortably) 'oh, well, unless you'd specifically asked - do I have MS - we wouldn't have been obliged to tell you'

My Dad, cursory exam, collapsed lung diagnosed & sent home with painkillers. Heavy smoker in the past...... Two weeks later another doc referred him to hospital for tests, my Dad died 4 weeks later from primary lung cancer that had spread to every organ in his body. His blood sugar level reached 164.

And the way my Dad was treated 10 years ago still angers me now. He'd been home for less than a week, collapsed at home and the emergency doc that came out checked him over, covered him with a blanket, and said to my Mum 'A&E is not a nice place to be on a Saturday night' and left him lying on the floor. Mum rang an ambulance an hour later, and he died on the Monday. And that angers me as well - the nurses 'tried to ring her' - it was a 15 minute journey to the hospital. I can still see my Mum's face as she said to me 'he was cold, he'd died and they didn't bother to let me know'

Don't have much belief that I'm being told 'the truth' I'm afraid. Sorry to go off on one!

Errata

Four simple questions to ask any doctor which they can't easily dodge the answer to -
What are you looking for
What are you thinking
What is wrong with me
What evidence have you used to arrive at that diagnosis

Person_one

I'm a bit disturbed that so many people seem to think medical professionals actively want to cause them harm.

Yes, they get it wrong sometimes, yes some are better than others, yes some are so incompetent they shouldn't be practicing. They aren't monsters though! They are human, they don't as a group derive pleasure from causing suffering.

Rev

Person_one wrote: »

I'm a bit disturbed that so many people seem to think medical professionals actively want to cause them harm.

Yes, they get it wrong sometimes, yes some are better than others, yes some are so incompetent they shouldn't be practicing. They aren't monsters though! They are human, they don't as a group derive pleasure from causing suffering.

I don't think anyone is saying the medical professionals want to cause them harm.

Just that some of them couldn't give a crap either way as long as they meet their targets and get paid.

I went to a GP with a breast lump. He refused to look at it. How is that anything but negligence? He didn't try and make me an appointment with the female GP. He didn't ask me to wait and see her, or see a nurse. Or do what any competent doctor would do and check the lump. It's a breast. Surely having been a doctor for his entire adult life he has seen those before. And the fact he feels uncomfortable examining them quite frankly gives me zero confidence is his diagnoses anyway.

It's been two months, I still haven't been able to get an appointment with her. You're told to call at 8:30am for an appointment. You call at 8:30am and all appointments are gone. You call earlier and they say to call back at 8:30.

I have tried to change to two different GP practices. Both have said no.

What do I do now? The drop in centre told me to go to my GP.

mazza111

I find that truly shocking Rev. I really do. I thought mine was bad until reading that.

I think some doctors are mainly insensitive to the information they give out. When my dad got the all clear from cancer, we were ecstatic as you can imagine. Dad took a bad turn, and we got the doctor out, his words were something like, "yes, he's dying, what do you want me to do?"

The answer was obvious to us as dad didn't want to die at home, he wanted to be in hospital. Thankfully we had discussed all this while he was getting his cancer treatment. But after getting the news that the tumour had gone to be told he was dying 2 weeks later was the biggest kick in the teeth ever. Turned out he took a blood clot in the lung, exactly the same place as the tumour had been. But it was the way the doc broke the news that left my wee mammy heartbroken.

seven-day-weekend

[QUOTE=Person_one;61802217]I'm a bit disturbed that so many people seem to think medical professionals actively want to cause them harm.

Yes, they get it wrong sometimes, yes some are better than others, yes some are so incompetent they shouldn't be practicing. They aren't monsters though! They are human, they don't as a group derive pleasure from causing suffering.[/QUOTE]

It's not that I think anyone wants to cause their patient harm. It's just that I think , (especially among GPs), that there is a couldn't-care- less-as-long-as-the-patient-is-out-of-my-surgery-and-not bothering-anyone-else attitude. And some of course just are not very good.

My husband had a terribly blocked nose for months, with bloody discharge, our GP kept giving him antibiotic after antibiotic, nothing worked. One morning when we were dogsitting, he woke up unable to breathe through his nose and went to a drop-in centre where we were, the Doctor there gave him extra strength penicillin, which helped considerably, so the following week, my husband went back to our own Dr with the tablets, got some more, problem cleared up. Our own Dr, years ago, was also treating him for a persistent nasty cough for nine months, eventually after all this time referred him to a consultant (at my husband's request), who, after a short examination said 'can't your GP diagnose pneumonia':eek:.

I will say our Dr is very pleasant and does give plenty of time, he just is not very good at treating things or referring upwards.

Doesn't inspire one with much hope.

lostinrates

Person_one wrote: »

I'm a bit disturbed that so many people seem to think medical professionals actively want to cause them harm.

Yes, they get it wrong sometimes, yes some are better than others, yes some are so incompetent they shouldn't be practicing. They aren't monsters though! They are human, they don't as a group derive pleasure from causing suffering.

I'm agreeing that its not the actively causing harm...it's the not actively seeking diagnosis. Passivity or failure to act rather than acting in any way to cause harm. I also think the culture doesn't tackle this and the 'average' is not coolly and critically challenged. The medical professions provoke strong reactions, their role is so important. This does rather foster a situation where sometimes there positions are seen as unchallengeable and when wrong doing or just lack of care is uncovered its seen as 'sinful' rather than just 'mediocre'.

IMO finding a diagnosis is pretty hard, and almost an art form. I have had things put on my file then told I don't have them several times.

Yesterday I was exceedingly frustrated with my consultant telling me we had to tackle one thing at a time while as far as I am concerned she is tryin to treat a symptom of a problem or at least a part of a whole problem. My gp should be coordinating.


A huge part of the issue is resources. We cannot really expect the type of screening I have been lucky to have from private gp practices on the nhs. They are expensive, and by their nature a lot are going to be 'wasted money' finding nothing.

I also agree we have to be more proactive ourselves. This is dicey because not everyone has the skill or knowledge or even temperament to be their best researcher. I have found my education and brief career in science has really helped:o. I am not a hypochondriac and have accurately diagnosed most of my more recent and simple complications. However, dr google is NOT helpful for people with a tendency to worry, to be prone to hypochondria, who have difficulty establishing the trustworthiness of a recourse.

E.g, support forums I have found to be pretty depressing often. I was told last year with a new diagnosis how awful everything was and how bad the drugs were etc, but in truth, its 'ok'. Certainly better than the untreated condition. I see support forums as a mixed blessing. The links are often the most useful thing, there is lots of misinformation.

If you can get a gp you see consistently that helps. My last gp was a strong advocate for me even when she didn't get everything right I recognised it as normal fallibility not incompetence or lack of care. It's a very hard and crucial role, and honestly, I think its clear often that the average standard is not how I for one would aspire for it to be ideally. But we have to do what we can for ourselves.