Morning everyone, hope everyone is doing OK? Since diagnosis (only early last month, although it feels like months ago) I seem to have had more appointments than I've had in my 50 years on this planet, 11 biopsies, mri, CT, I have a bone density scan tomorrow and then next week I have to go to another hospital for a biopsy on my other breast (mri has shown something which they couldn't properly identify on ultrasound) and then pelvic scan as apparently I have cysts on my ovaries as well!. I've been referred for chemo as surgery not possible at the moment, does anyone know how long it takes roughly from chemo referral to actually starting it? Feel like I'm in limbo and getting more tired and stressed every day. Xx
I'm in the same boat as you although have been waiting longer!
I was diagnosed on the 7th February and have had numerous scans, and biopsies done.
I was supposed to have my mastectomy on March 30th but the MRI showed swelling in my lymph nodes in my neck so it was postponed for another scan and biopsy on that which I had on Friday.
I'm panicking as I just want something to be done and feel in limbo too.
my referral to chemo to actually starting is two weeks….but I was diagnosed four months ago and, like you, just seemed to have endless scans and tests. I then had two surgeries and a wait of weeks for pathology between each.
it feels really horrible. I’m assured the wait time for chemo makes no difference but I find it hard to believe.
While it is a good thing that the doctors are being thorough and are leaving no stone unturned, the extra time this adds can sometimes mean that we have to remind them how long it's been. The nurses sometimes have the tendency of just trying to calm us down and tell us to be patient a while longer, often without actually really noting how long it's been. When that happens, we can insist that she refers the query to the oncologist and gets a response, as well as some preduction on when, in the oncologist's estimate, treatment can be expected to start.
As for, "the wait time for chemo makes no difference," while this is medically true up to a point, they are completely ignoring that our lives are literally on hold until things start moving, and the sooner we start treatment the sooner we end it, and that each "small" delay adds to the previous one, and in the end it does accummulate and takes away chuncks of time we could be spending recovering rather than still going through treatment.
