Hi'
I'm Sequel and my friend was diagnosed with liver cancer 3 weeks ago and had a resection yesterday. The diagnosis and operation were delayed for a number of weeks as we live in Cyprus and the Health Service here seemed very reluctant to give a diagnosis or any treatment so he had to turn to the private sector where the operation was twice delayed because he didn't have the money to pay. There don't seem to be support groups here or if they exist must be in Greek. I feel that he, his wife (who speaks little English and no Greek), I and his other friends are all going to have to work together to get the best help and advice to support him particularly in the coming weeks while he is recovering from the surgery and re-building some strength.
Doctors here still don't feel they need to discuss anything and you are regarded as 'difficult' if you ask questions. That, combined with the fact that his wife can't ask the 'right' questions and get straight answers is going to make things very difficult and the support of others who are on the same path would be a huge comfort and hopefully we can share our experiences with you. Thanks for reading this.
Hi and welcome to the online community
I'm very sorry to hear about your friend and it sounds very hard for you trying to navigate the Greek health care system.
It's natural that you want to try and support your friend as much as possible so could I suggest a couple of groups for you to join. The first is the liver cancer group where you can ask questions about treatment. etc and the second is the family and friends group where you can share your worries and get support. There is also a living with cancer outside of the UK group although it doesn't appear to be very active at the moment.
To join these groups just click on the links I've created and then choose 'join this group' on the pages that open. You can then introduce yourself and ask questions by selecting 'start a discussion' and respond to existing posts by clicking on 'reply'.
When you have a minute it would be really useful if could pop something about your friend's journey into your profile, including the fact that he lives in Cyprus, as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Edit Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
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