I’m not normally very good at remembering dates. I’d struggle to remember the precise date of any of my cancer journey without consulting my diaries. Except for one date which seems to have firmly stuck in my mind. 6th February 2013. So today is one year since that awful day when I was told I probably had cancer.
Looking back on it now it seems so long ago. The strange thing is that it still doesn’t even feel as if it happened to me. I just read my blog entry from that day and it felt like I was reading someone else’s blog. I clearly remember the examination room I was sitting in at the hospital, it’s the one I still go into for some of my clinic appointments. I also remember the Consultant I saw and the nurse who was so kind. They are often around when I go for my checkups. I have a very strong memory of what I was wearing but everything else seems to have faded with the passing of time.
I got involved recently with the local hospital’s patients’ group and I get sent questionnaires to complete for the Health Authority. The latest one is asking what could have been done to improve my cancer care. That’s an easy one to answer. I would have liked more information and support on that day a year ago.
If only someone had put a Macmillan booklet in my hand or given me details of this online community. That didn’t happen for another 6 weeks when I was officially diagnosed and allocated a Macmillan nurse. I spent those 6 weeks looking at some very scary and inaccurate sites on the internet and I managed to lose a stone in weight. I had no idea that this weight loss mattered until it was too late.
At my hospital the Oncology department is in a separate building. You only get to walk through the front door once you are officially diagnosed. Until that day you go to departments in the main building. There are plenty of Macmillan booklets and posters all over the Oncology department but I’ve never seen any in the main building. Perhaps they don’t want to scare people but I found it was more frightening not having any accurate information. So I will suggest in my questionnaire response that they consider displaying a few Macmillan booklets in the main building, or better still they offer them to any patients with suspected cancer.
That sounds nice and simple doesn’t it. So perhaps I should suggest something else a bit more challenging. Like sorting out the problems with the Hospital Pharmacy. Unfortunately they haven’t allowed me enough space to fill in what I’d like to say on that subject, so I will be writing “please see attached sheets”. I hope the envelope is going to be big enough because I can feel one of my rants coming on!
