Don't put it off!!!

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macliam
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Don't put it off!!!

Post by macliam » Mon Nov 29 2021 6:45pm

Not a return to my earlier thread (though I have a CT-scan booked on Wednesday as part of ongoing monitoring), but something that I saw on the BBC website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59444191

Adele's reaction is much like mine - "I had a tumour, they removed it". However, it sounds as if her cancer was more advanced than mine, as she needs a stoma (hopefully temporarily). I wish her well.

Unfortunately, my return to the UK had me learn that my friend who was diagnosed just after me has lost her fight against the bitch. Like Adele, she was younger than me, but her cancer was more advanced.

Young people have little choice but to wait (and hope) that symptoms lead them to seek medical advice, but us oldies are automatically entered into the NHS screening programme - and you'd be stupid to pass up the chance of a diagnosis. It appears that the same screening is available privately for about £50, but how many people are likely to go for that in the absence of symptoms?

If you do get a screening kit, use it. Don't put it off!
Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get me

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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by oldboy » Mon Nov 29 2021 7:37pm

macliam wrote:
Mon Nov 29 2021 6:45pm
Not a return to my earlier thread (though I have a CT-scan booked on Wednesday as part of ongoing monitoring), but something that I saw on the BBC website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59444191

Adele's reaction is much like mine - "I had a tumour, they removed it". However, it sounds as if her cancer was more advanced than mine, as she needs a stoma (hopefully temporarily). I wish her well.

Unfortunately, my return to the UK had me learn that my friend who was diagnosed just after me has lost her fight against the bitch. Like Adele, she was younger than me, but her cancer was more advanced.

Young people have little choice but to wait (and hope) that symptoms lead them to seek medical advice, but us oldies are automatically entered into the NHS screening programme - and you'd be stupid to pass up the chance of a diagnosis. It appears that the same screening is available privately for about £50, but how many people are likely to go for that in the absence of symptoms?

If you do get a screening kit, use it. Don't put it off!
Good advice Mac'. The main reason most folk don't go for any test or even to have a Dr to look at a problem, is fear, so it's easer to close your eyes and sound out your loved ones, and it'll go away. Problem is it doesn't. So I'd say take Macliams advise, Stupidity and fear may not kill you, but it can sure help

Sorry about your friend, that really sucks.
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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by macliam » Tue Nov 30 2021 2:01am

The really sad thing is that she went through the first courses of chemo without adverse effects and was able to have surgery. The last time I spoke to her husband, he was peed off because a trip down the Danube he had booked had been impacted by Covid - so she was fairly well recovered and although a tumour on her liver had reappeared, the medics expected it to respond to further chemo.

I guess they were wrong....

However, as with Adele's story, this does show the danger of late diagnosis.

My cancer was stage2 and aggressive - it had appeared in the two years since my previous screening. However, stage 2 means it has not yet perforated the bowel or spread to the lymph nodes, so surgery can "cure" it, to all effects and purposes.

Stage 3 means there has been perforation, so there is a chance that the cancer has "metastasized", a horrible word with a horrible meaning, that the cancer has spread beyond the bowel.

Stage 4 means secondary cancers have developed - and at that stage, things get really complicated - it may not be immediately possible to section the bowel (remove the tumour) and chemotherapy will be required to reduce tumours before surgery. This is the situation with both Adele and my friend - and is often the stage at which colon cancer is diagnosed unless it is caught earlier by screening.

The further you go along the road, the more difficult the treatment becomes. The further you go along the road, the more impact the cancer may have on your lifestyle. I had surgery, but I'm now OK (fingers crossed, always!). Adele's surgery was more exteme, so she needs a stoma (a bag) as her bowel is no longer functioning (hopefully temporarily). In my friends case, she had secondary cancers on her liver and lungs..... and I don't actually know what was the fatal one......

If you have a test delivered, get yourself checked. If you have colon cancer in the family, see if you can get on a screening list. Don't put it off!
Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get me

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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by macliam » Wed Dec 01 2021 10:03pm

I had a CT scan today as part of my ongoing surveillance - it wasn't a good experience. :(

I arrived at the hospital and went to the CT scan department, but was advised that I was going to "the outside scanner" and to sit in the corridor and wait. A few minutes later a young Filipino guy arrived and led me off to a mobile unit behind the main block... it was a private company working for the NHS to provide extra scanning capacity. :thumbdown:

I was asked the normal questions about health and allergies and then led into the scanner room. then they proceeded to catheterise me for the contrast dye. Not so good - the guy failed to get the catheter in place. So they moved to the other arm..... that one was more than just "a sharp scratch", it felt as if he was trying to find a vein once the needle was in... he said I had a "rolling vein", which has never been an issue before. He called his supervisor, who went back to the original arm, but a different vein - and that was downright painful, but successful (thnk goodness). :shifty:

After flushing with saline, he connected the dye and prepared me for the scan session. It did the first pass and then a second (normally the last). I waited, but nothing. Then I was told over the Tannoy that the scan had not been successful, so a second would be needed. So I waited for the process to restart...... and I waited and I waited. Over 5 minutes later (and without further explanation) the scanner started spinning again and I was treated to another two passes. :shifty:

The whole process took over 45 minutes...... not bad for a 15-minute slot!!
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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by blythburgh » Thu Dec 02 2021 10:52am

Hope for good news when you get the results. DH had to have a scan a few months back, different health group but again a private company doing the scanning.
I posted this on FB the other day: drat cannot copy it. But Stephen Fry was saying "American corporations are embedding themselves in our NHS which is really dangerous, very worrying and something we should all be concerned about".

An online friend who I really only know from my private swagbucks group replied:

The privitisation started awhile ago - so many GP surgeries are now run by American healthcare groups. Where we live if you need a referral to Opthalmology the GP can no longer refer you themselves, they have to have a letter from an Optomitrist to say that you need the referral - my Dad was able to get this for free for his cataract as they were discovered on his routine free eyesight check up but he now has an ulcer growing between his eyelid and eyeball. As it wasn't a sight test he has had to pay for an examination to get the magic letter so the referral can by done. It is maddening as the GP saw him first and could see exactly what this ulcer is which will need to be surgically removed but her hands were tied until Dad paid up to be seen at an opticians - they then sold him some magic eyedrops for £8 which will do precisely nothing to this ulcer - turns out they were dry eye drops which you can buy for £1.95 in Wilkos 😮 My hubby is waiting for a hip replacement - he has 7 months left before his firm get rid of him (he is now on long term sick leave as the pain is so bad and he can barely walk now) He won't be getting the op on the NHS before then as the waiting list is currently 4 years 😕 but of course if he wants to go private he can have it done asap - our only hope is a private-NHS partnership offer - he did get one originally but lost it as his BP was too high (they will only except really fit and well people on these partnerships as they want people who won't have any post-op complications)

How many people know or care how much the Americans have taken over our NHS. And how many will believe the right wing when they say "It does not matter who owns what as long as the NHS is free at source."
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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by Richard Frost » Thu Dec 02 2021 11:17am

blythburgh wrote:
Thu Dec 02 2021 10:52am

How many people know or care how much the Americans have taken over our NHS. And how many will believe the right wing when they say "It does not matter who owns what as long as the NHS is free at source."
How many people know or care much about anything nowadays. So many people are trying hard just to get on with/keep up with their lives.

It show how many people care when they vote the country out of Europe and into government the conservative clowns, with their clown in chief Boris.

With some noteable exceptions people generally only have time/want to care about themselves nowadays.
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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by macliam » Thu Dec 02 2021 11:44am

A little off-topic for the thread, but I abolutely agree with bb about the increasing reliance on private providers within the NHS, whether thay be American, British or anything else.

For me, it is the amount of money they suck from the NHS budget, whilst siphoning off profits for shareholders and as "rewards" for those who support them, which is the problem - as every penny paid to them is a penny less for the front-line support that we know and love.

Of course I am grateful to see a reduction in waiting lists and increased availability of these services, but if this means a loss of clinical control over treatments then it is surely unacceptable and likely to lead to a fragmented service overall...... and fragmentation is an open door for those who want to pick off further areas for "private provision". For me, this stems from the failure of the NHS to deal with the original private providers, forced on the system in order to get Tory support - these are the GPs, the dentists and the opticians, etc., who are contracted to the NHS, but not employed by it. Now we see these areas being used as leverage for the privatization of further services that can be delivered at the front end at no (immediate) cost to the patient.

Some time back I had a lot of pain in my shoulder that didn't seem to respond to any treatment. I saw my (then) GP who was quite insistent that physio was the answer and set me up with a first session. When i went, the first session was spent filling forms and gathering information - with a few "exercises" suggested that could be found on the internet. The next session I thought would get down to a bit of hands-on treatment, but no, this was more form-filling and more exercises, this time done at the clinic - I left no better than before. The third session started the same way and I asked how many sessions would be required and when any actual physio would take place. The answers were, basically, how long is a piece of string and, if I wanted maniulation or massage, he could recommend a private practitioner. That was my last session as I didn't want to waste further time or money, the problem eventually went away...

The GP "retired" a year or so ago, but still works as a locum - so imagine my surprise to see him at the physio clinic when I went to the associated pharmacy. I'd like to know the relationship there - an NHS GP (now locum), a private physio service and a pharmacy, all apparently working closely together........

Every time the use of a private provider is suggested, I can't help thinking "the road to Hell is pathed with good intentions..." and wondering how much of the NHS budget is ending up in a low-level corruption of the system. Every time funds are witheld from the NHS, every time an adminsitrator decides to stop providing a service, I can almost see the private providers straining at the leash.......
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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by macliam » Thu Jan 27 2022 1:59pm

I realise I din't give an update on this :oops:

I got the results of my CT scan and bloods on 18th January and they show no recurrence of my Bowel Cancer after 4 years. :thumbup:

Since then I have received and returned my bi-annual screening kit from the NHS. Today I received a letter to say that this has also shown a negative test result, so that no further treatment is required at this time. :clap: (This is the test that I referred to in my original "Don't put it off" thread - and here again, it shows its value.)

I'm now waiting for a conversation with the nurse specialist about further monitoring and I know there was a colonoscopy scheduled, but I'm going to need a lot of convincing to go through that! :shifty:
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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by blythburgh » Fri Jan 28 2022 9:33am

So glad you had negative results as did 'im indoors.

But to go off topic (again) 'im indoors went to the hospital on Wednesday and will have a cataract op in 6 months time. Right eye has a cornea problem and he had the cataract done years ago after an eye op caused it. So that eye is a bit blurred and the left eye is fairly bad but a six month wait. A mere six months says my online friend in SE Wales. She is virtually blind in one eye and the cataract in the other is getting worse but it will be another 2 years before she gets the first op. And her GP surgery has closed and all the patients were supposed to be going to another one. But they are all full and the system has yet to get her on to a GP's list. Others she knows have a GP but not had their medicines reviewed for over 2 years and now cannot get a repeat prescription. Bad as things are here I am glad we do not live in Wales
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Re: Don't put it off!!!

Post by macliam » Sat Jun 25 2022 11:12am

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy (yeah that's bad enough) - but it's about the last active test in my 5-year post-op cancer monitoring schedule. (reminder to self to quiz nurse specialist).

This time (and for the very first time) they found and excised a polyp on the scar site from my bowel resection. It was thought to be non-malignant (still to be tested) but even so, any change is unwelcome - especially as I have no more tests slated and my initial cancer was entirely symptom-free........

I really want to continue the monitoring beyond the 5-year cut-off, but given the state of the NHS I might not get the chance. However, I will at least (for the present) receive the bi-annual screening test and I might have to rely on that.....

It just goes to show, never turn down the opportunity to be tested - Don't Put It Off!!!
Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get me

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