Urgent referral meant to be 2 weeks still heard nothing

Hello ,

It is always worth pushing.  The guidelines are there for a reason and it is meant to safeguard the treatment paths for those with cancer.  If you know where you are going to be seen then I would try contacting them directly.  It is not unknown for people to get overlooked or lost in al the admin or for one department to think that another department is taking action and if you don't chase it up then no one else will.

I am a little surprised that you would go to having a colostomy in two weeks.  The two weeks is normally from the suspicion that you might have cancer to having the tests or investigations which can conform that, such as blood tests, endoscopy or biopsy.  Once that is confirmed then in the majority of cases a multi disciplinary team meeting will be arranged to explore the alternatives and determine which is the treatment that they will be recommending.  I have no personal experience of bowel cancer and would not be surprised to hear that surgery is their preferred choice but again you would normally have a series of tests to ensure that you are fit enough to undergo surgery.  The guidance for all this to take place is a longer time period although I am not up on the guidance for each stage.

Your GP technically co-ordinates your treatment and they receive copies of all tests and are written to by the specialists although this can take a few days to get through.  I always ask to be included in any correspondence with my GP and also to receive copies of any test results such as blood tests and scan reports.  They are quite difficult to understand to start with but once you get the hang of them they are useful in making sure that you are up to date with everything.

I wish you all the best with your treatment and would wholeheartedly encourage you to keep questioning what is happening and asking if there is anything you can do to speed things up.

love and hugs,

Gragon xx