Chemotherapy delayed

Hi Guida

Thank you for getting in touch with us. My name is Lynsay, and I am one of the information nurses with Macmillan cancer support.  I hope you find the online community a helpful and supportive environment.

I am sorry to hear that you have experienced a delay in your chemotherapy treatment. I can appreciate the upset, worry and frustration this must cause. It is an unfortunate reality that delays do sometimes occur due to staff shortages. It is good to hear that another appointment has been confirmed for you, but I do understand this will result in a 2-week delay in your treatment.

There can sometimes be delays in treatment for various reasons, sometimes this can be as a result of the side effects of chemotherapy for example. I completely appreciate that this is not the case for you but generally a short delay is not thought to impact the overall effectiveness of the treatment.

You mentioned speaking with your breast care nurse and the treatment unit. I would also encourage you to contact your consultant. You consultant will be in the same position as the breast care nurse in terms of not really being able to influence a practical change in your appointment date, but they would be able to give you more information about the potential impact of this delay in your specific case and hopefully be able to reassure you a bit.

Delays both in starting treatment and during treatment cause significant stress and worry. Macmillan are currently running a campaign called ‘What are we waiting for’. I have added a link to this here for more information. We also have information called understanding your cancer care rights which can be a helpful resource when trying to advocate for your health.

I hope this has been helpful.  Please don’t hesitate to get back in touch if we can help further.

Best wishes,

Lynsay

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.

Thank you Lynsay for kind words, and information. I followed your advice to advocate for my health:

Next day, I went to the hospital in person and contacted my consultant and Pals. I few hours later I was called to do my bloods and I got a place the following day for my infusion. I just got lucky and that was such a relief.  

I signed on the banner. Your work is amazing