Petrified about upcoming surgery

Dear GraniteWave,

Have a hug. 

Others here may be able to give some great advice. 

Call your original team on Monday. Tell them your concerns.

There is likely nothing you can do now to change things at this time of day. So set a time to start dealing with it tomorrow. 

Keep.being you lovely person. 

Hello GraniteWave 

I can understand your concerns too! 

It's all a matter of trust and if the new guy is the best - he got to be the best by being good and having a great team. I am sure before the operation he and his team will read your notes and know how best to go forward.

Before the operation you will meet the man again, and the anaesthetist too. Yes you can chat about the spinal block (it's great, better than a general - I've had both so should know and yes I am a bloke!). You know everything that's going on in the theatre and can ask questions.

i know it's hard, but the team are there for you and although you have anxiety - it will soon be over.

Do give our Support Line a call on 0808 808 00 00 (8am to 8pm 7 days) they can help with your feelings.

I wish you well moving forward.

Best wishes - Brian.

The new doctor's CV is very impressive, I'll agree but if he hasn't bothered reading my notes before meeting me, does that still make him the best?

It's not just that, he said other things that worry me a lot. 

He said the operation would only last 45 minutes. Everything else I've read on the procedure says about 3 hours (NHS literature, not obscure, false information or chat GPT style information.) 

That worries me a lot, is he just bragging? Or underestimating my condition? Is he going to rush it? Take shortcuts? 

He said he took my case from my local hospital because he's going to do more, so why is he saying it'll take a third of the time?

I don't know if I have mentioned this before but the new hospital is very difficult for us to get to and it means I won't have the physical presence of my husband every day, it's logistically impossible for us to manage. 

As someone with known complex mental health diagnoses, perhaps this should have been a higher priority as well? 

My local hospital introduced the team to me weeks in advance. I wasn't anxious because I knew them, I knew the plan, I knew what would happen step by step. 

My new operation is happening this friday and that's pretty much all the information I have this time around. 

Hello GraniteWave 

I do understand your concern and it's up to you to decide if you wish to go down the path of accepting this treatment or to ask for your treatment to be returned to your local hospital.

* First off you need to raise all your concerns with the new team as soon as possible to see if you can resolve the issue locally.

* If you are still unhappy then you can contact PALS at your local hospital (Patient Advice and Liaison Service). They can help but are not known for speedy service.

* You can complain about your treatment to your local Healthwatch.

I appreciate it's late BUT I would be contacting the team at your local hospital - tell them you are unhappy, the issue is how urgent is your operation?

I hope the above helps.

Best wishes - Brian.

I would say my operation is of medium to high urgency; the tumour itself is grade 1 so there's very little chance it would have had time to change or grow in the few weeks the two hospitals have been deciding what to do. The problem is it is quite an advanced size and there has been some worry of it causing a bowel blockage or blocking access to my appendix and causing a faux appendicitis. I'm also in quite a lot of pain and suffering a whole range of other symptoms that I'm finding hard to manage, and have had to eat a strict low-fibre diet since I was diagnosed at the end of August. 

I have spoken to PALs before, they were the ones who got me my colonoscopy that found the tumour to begin with after I was fobbed off by GPs and a colorectal specialist. I am reluctant to go running back to them with another complaint so soon.

My old hospital knows I have concerns about the new hospital and feel like they can't do anything about it, the new hospital has the final say because of the complexity of my case. They know I would prefer to go back to them.

I have also voiced my concerns about just being treated as a tumour not a whole person with other illnesses and needs to my new CNS at the new place... With no result. 

The thing he said about only taking 45 minutes, should I raise a concern about that? Do I look just paranoid or crazy for not taking his word for it? Or am I reading too much into it? I'm also worried he'll just deny he said it or make it seem like I misunderstood. 

Hello GraniteWave 

Yes, you are between a rock and a hard place here. I think from what you are saying (and I am not medically trained) that you have suffered enough and the operation is a "must" for Friday to keep you on the right track.

I think it's a case here for keeping your thoughts to yourself - get the operation over with and don't mention the estimated time it's going to take, after all it's only an estimate and you don't know what you are going to find until the day.

I am sure once you are at the new hospital and after your operation you can speak to the post operative team on the ward regarding your other concerns.

I know it's tough, we all hate hospitals (I did 10 days during covid with no visitors) but once you have had the operation you can re-group and take on your remaining challenges.

Best wishes - Brian.