Dealing with Hospitals and checkups

LegacyUser

Hi i got testicular cancer about 9 months ago and had to have the right one taken out. Since it was caught very early i was given a choice between radiation treatment which would all but eliminate the chances of it having spread or surveillance which means lots of regular testing for 5 years but still high chance of it not reappearing as it was caught so early. I chose surveilance. So at the moment im meant to have blood tests and abdomen/cheast/head ct scans every 3 months. Normally after a scan i get the results from the urology/oncology consultant a week or two later. I had a scan in late february but the results appointment wasnt till late march for some reason. this appointment was then cancelled by them. Being a bit worried waiting for results i badgered them into sending the results to my gp. I then got a new appointment to meet the consultant for the end of may. I didnt recieve any appointment for the next set of scans. I got onto the hospital and let them know this and after a few calls to the consultants secretary i was told that this appontment was instead of the last one they cancelled and the next set of tests would be arranged then.
This throws my treatment protocol out the window as itll be likely to be 5 or 6 months without a scan. Should i kick up a fuss or let them away with it as i dont want to have my doctor pissed off with me. I also cant now arrange any holidays as i wouldnt want to risk it coinciding with scans etc. any advice is welcome.

Zulu

Kick up a fuss. Don't delay or take a chance with caner buddy! Best of luck.

tbh

yeah, I'd kick up a fuss. Hopefully you'll be fine, but for the sake of your own piece of mind, I'd want to be in control. Maybe you could contact the Irish Cancer Society and see what they say?

joliea

I have to agree, you need to kick up a fuss, its your health thats at stake here so what if you piss a few Dr.s I can tell you if it was them you'd hear about it. You need to be treated & treated well!! Let them know you're not happy with the current arrangement & most Drs I've dealt with anyway are happy to sort things out quickly. You don't need extra stress. Good luck & good health.

birch11

I'm in a very similar situation to yourself in that I was diagnosed with tc at the end of Feb. Again, luckily, it was caught very early etc.

But even if caught early or not you've had a very lucky escape in a lot of ways and so shouldn't take any chances at all of it recurring. If that involves getting a bit shirty with a doctor then so be it. HSE bureaucracy is notoriously bad, you need to be proactive, especially with something like this, to make sure you stick to your treatment plan. You can't be worried about stepping on a few toes.

Just out of interest, I'm curious as to why you opted for the surveillance over the radiotherapy? (Am about to start radiotherapy myself)

carlos

As said before you really need to keep on top of this and push the hospital to keep to the schedule. I had TC myself almost 3 years ago and went with the survillance option. I know how nerveracking the first year can be so you dont need this added stress.

The Irish cancer society have a liason nurse in most main cancer hospitals. Any time I had problems with appointments a quick phone call to the nurse sorted things out.

A good website which helped be a lot with information on protocols and treatments is www.tc-cancer.com another with a very good user group you can subsribe to is http://tcrc.acor.org/