What happens at an appointment

Hi 

Sorry I missed your post . I was away over the weekend and thought I had stayed up to date so I do apologise. 
My mum had a secondary spread to her lung but it is quite unusual to actually get a consultation without firstly identifying the primary but I am wondering if they are considering a lung biopsy to identify the primary ? Only a thought mind you .

Normally bowel cancer that has spread to another area goes straight to chemotherapy as it gives the opportunity to shrink the presenting disease and reign in any other circulating cells .

Has your mum been experiencing any symptoms with her bowel ? Hopefully the colonoscopy will identify any area of concern and bowel cancer which has spread still can have a lot of different treatment options .

Has your mum been experiencing symptoms from the spread to her lung ?

Hope you are all holding up ok !

Take care ,

Court 

I had a bowel cancer removed in 2019 followed by chemo and recently a ct scan showed nodules in my lungs and a suspicious looking part of my liver. I had a full pet/ct scan over a week ago but find  that the Macmillan nurses in the Hastings area are again very slow to get back to me with the results. All the tests I have had I have eventually had to chase. Their answerphone messages record that they will reply within 24 hours but in my experience it is often after that time.Has anyone else experienced extra stress because of instances like this? Sorry to moan but the waiting I have experienced could be fatal in some unlucky cases.

Hi 

The waiting is so tough on people and you are definitely not moaning . These things matter .

Unfortunately although the nurses may be able to view your scans on the clinical portal they will not be allowed to give the results out until the radiologist have written up their full report . That can take a few weeks depending on the volume of work and the number of patients coming through the system . My mum has had over 35 scans . Most were interpreted around two weeks later but one was much longer as they had a recruitment problem at one point .

My mum’s GP was also able to access the clinical protal and that was good on a few occasions.

Its horrible waiting on scan results . Hope you get them soon and bring better news .

Court 

Hi Court. Thank you for your reply. Made me realise that the pet/ct results may not be available yet. Would have appreciated a quick call from the Macmillan nurses to update me though. I know they must be busy and will wait to see what happens.Cancer is an awful experience for us all and thanks for caring enough to reply. Best wishes.

Completely agree especially if their answer machine indicates that you will get a reply within a given timeframe . It creates an expectation and raises concern about the care .

Its such a stressful situation anyway you don’t need other factors adding to that . It’s one of the hardest aspects .

Hoping the scan turns out to be ok . 
Court