My mum had the all clear from early stage breast cancer last year around may. She completed radiotherapy in august. She had Zometa infusion in October 2022. After the infusion she got uveitis, which doctors thought was possibly caused by the Zometa infusion as it happened the day after the infusion. My mother always had body pain, which I told the oncologist and many gps about, we were repeatedly told it was because of the chemo and that the body takes time to heal and to continue taking pain killers. From November she started to express she had pain in her left shoulder, had an x ray and revealed she had thinning in the bones. From November onwards my mother got worse and worse, she was now having pain on the left side of her back. I’d been back and forth with doctors for months, constantly being prescribed painkillers to mask the underlying cause, until it got too much and she began having chest pain in January. She was referred for an urgent x ray which took 3 weeks to even come through, however we managed to get an immediate x ray thanks to one GP, results came back same day and revealed fluid in mums lungs. She is in severe pain constantly, worse than when she was on chemo, she has reoccurring fluid in her lungs now. Doctors suspect the cancer may be back, but when the fluid was sent for testing the results came back inconclusive now we are waiting for mum to have a biopsy and camera inserted thru the chest wall to determine whether it’s the breast cancer again or something else. I feel like she is just being left to suffer, she is getting worse and worse by the day, her voice has gone and she is completely reliant on me. Appointments are being much to late, I can’t bear to see her suffer anymore I feel like she is dying I’m front of me and I can’t do anything about it, how is this humane to leave her in so much pain and suffering? The doctors say results take time, 1-2 weeks, however I always manage to end up getting mum seen sooner for something and they tell me the results when we’re there, so clearly they have test results sooner than I am being told. I just don’t know what to do, by the time she now has her biopsy next week, results will take 2 weeks I’ve been told which I feel is way to long considering she didn’t even have the all clear for a year how is she not considered an urgent patient? I’ve tried to look at private options however the procedure is not available near me and she is too fragile to take out the city/country. I feel like oncologist does not really do much to help, every time I expressed concern post chemotherapy and after the radiotherapy she would arrange a phone call not with herself but either a colleague who did not really do anything beside brush her pain off as recovering from chemo, or a nurse who wouldn’t have access to everything in order to investigate things further. We saw oncologist today, and as expected she did not do anything, I told oncologist mum can not wait until Wednesday for her next drainage for the fluid in the lungs, and instead of contacting the pleural department she told me to call and try, when I know she could have called the department and pushed for them to see mum today, as they are both based in the same hospital I just feel she is so useless as an oncologist. What do I do I need help!
Oh God I feel for you I really do, my Mother so suffered. I just wonder if she needs it draining urgently A & E could put a chest drain in possibly. Do as she says first and call them. They do run out of empathy sometime. I read in here someone had a change of Oncologist and got on better, I don't know how easy or helpful that would be.
That's so hard.to be in that position. Yes I agree, she couldn't endure that kind of wait. It's a difficult one to resolve. Maybe the Macmillan Nurses can help you work out what to do.
