On coming off the steriods the headache started to come back, not as intense as before, also David feels like he is floating around. He is able to take himself to the toilet still. But feels very tired and lost his appetiate.
We had an outpatient appointment with the team that offered the radiotherapy, but they skirted around the whole issue of exactly what we needed to know. WHY? I have decided that they don't really listen.
Before David had radiotheraphy we asked "Would the treatment get rid of the tumour" the answer was "yes" we clarified that we were looking at "curative treatment".
When asked "are the headaches a side effect of the radiotheraphy" the consultant just wiggled in her chair and skirted around how David was feeling. We also asked if they would be doing another MRI as this had been suggested during David's radiotheraphy, but they said in his case it wasn't worth while.
David asked "what are the chances of getting well enough to return to work" and the consultant said that he should take one step at a time and work upto it. He proberbly wouldn't be able to return to what he was doing but could perhaps see about doing something else. We took this to mean that David could have years left. She wanted to see David's walking and had walked with us to the lift to leave.
We came home and sat and discussed what had been said, and I felt that we didn't really have any answers and were no further forward.
Also when speaking to friends and relatives they asked questions which I wasn't sure of the answers, and hadn't thought about at the consultation. So I rang the hospital and spoke to the consultant, who said she didn't really like to discuss time over the phone, then said she didn't like to discuss it at all.
So in other words, she prefers to leave patients feeling that they will get better and live for years, than tell them straight that they could have just a matter of months left!
She also said that most patients relatives ask to speak seperatly in the corridor, where upon this is discussed. - Surely this can't be right. The patient has a right to know. Also hearing it from a consultant is so much better than from a relative.
She also said that once the cancer has started to spread elsewhere the treatment is pallative, rarely do patients live longer than a year!
