well after last weeks shocker i went for an appointment at my local hospital to discuss radiotherapy. i don't think i told you all too much about my last marsden appointment . whilst i was on holiday i was called by the hospital to say that surgury was 1st option and go ahead to meet with the surgeon's the following tuesday , the appointment did'nt go too well to say the least. i would honestly say my dog would have got treated better at the vets..seriously!
the surgeon waltzed in after waiting 2 hours to see him and he then said he couldn't find my mri , pet or ct scan's ! he then said oh yes you had your mri yesterday didn't you , i said no 4 weeks ago ! even though i was in a great deal of pain he did an internal and rectal exam whilst my partner ( although behind a screen) was in the room , he gave him no option of leaving the room. he then said i would need a biopsy until i replied i had already had one. i then asked if my tumour had got any bigger and in his words he said ' how am i supposed to know its the 1st time i've seen you '. i laugh now at the rudeness of it all but last week i was in pieces . he left the room after telling me about the surgury involving taking out my bladder, i was left with his nurse sidekick and i asked her why his opinion was so different from anything else i'd been told and how he could form that opinion when he hadn't seen my scans. she told me that he was the best in his field and i should respect his opinion.. ok
the day after i rang the oncologist at my local hospital to ask why after a 2 week wait the marsden hadn't received my scans , i spoke to her secetary who expressed her disgust as she personally made sure the marsden had my scan's. the oncologist rang later to say she had got letters back from the marsden and would see me today.
anyway the oncologist was disgusted with way i was treated by the marsdens surgeons and said that i aswell as herself should write a letter of complaint , she said that no one should of been treated as i was on that day and that she will think twice about referring anyone to that surgeon. she also said that the maidstone hospital surgeon was furious with what the marsdon surgeon suggested and that he was sure he could operate ,post radio, without removing the bladder , he said that even if he thought it was too tricky that surgeons at st thomas's would be able to do it without removing the bladder.
so.... i am having 5 weeks of radiotherapy with 1 day a week chemo . the a scan to see if the tumour has shrunk and discuss surgury. all in all a rough week but i finally feel i'm getting somewhere , as for the marsden being the best of the best well my letter of complaint will go out tomorrow.
FormerMember
Oh my god, you were treated so apallingly!!! I wonder how that surgeon would have felt if it was his wife or daughter being spoken to and treated in such a way. Good for you re the complaint - you can add my name on the bottom too!! Sure from your next appointment, you will now have nothing but good things to say about the Marsden in the future - good luck and looking forward to reading your next update. Lotsa love - Julie xxx
So sorry to hear how badly you were treated by your surgeon. Why do these people think that they are gods, and that patients should be grateful to them? My husband has met with similar attitudes here in tthe Midlands. He has terminal llung cancer, and was told by his oncologist that he was LUCKY to be getting palliative chemo. Lucky in my book would be not needing it in the first place. You really must complain at the way you were treated, although with everything else that is going on for you, it must be the last thing you want to spend time on. Good news though that Maidstone hospital are more sensitive and caring. I hope the radio and chemo will go well. Keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on
We all know that there are people with good people skills and others with none at all. I had 3 surgeons working on me, one I didn't meet until after the op, one was absolutely wonderful with an excellent bedside manner and the third one had no personality whatsoever (obviously had a humour bypass). Fortunately none of them had been rude to me as your surgeon has been to you. I think you should definitely complain. Why should he get away with speaking to someone in that manner just because he's the best in his field? Anyway, good luck at the Maidstone Sammie. Keep us all up to date with progress.
Disgraceful sammy I have read your post with clenched teeth. Do write a letter of complaint, he needs hauling over the coals, also you only have the nurses opinion that he's the best in his field. Was his 'field' full of cattle, it sounds like it. Good luck with your treatment sam, so glad every-thing is not as black as you thought. Wishing you to be well, Linda
Hi Sammy, sorry to hear the reception you got from the so called expert, personally I think he should be removed from his post immediately, it's bad enough having cancer in the first place without some idiot voicing there opinion without first doing a thorough check, my experience with the consultant so far is to say the least, not what I expected, it seemed to me that we are just numbers to them, not patients, I have learnt more about my cancers by going onto the Internet, for the simple reason I got fed up with the technical jargon that seems to be the norm with these experts.
So look after yourself Sammy, put in your complaint, but deep down you know has well has i do, they look after themselves.
