When you feel abandoned by the NHS

I feel very sad that you have been made to feel like this because of your age . I work with lots of older people in my job as a care manager and they are treated all equal . People of an older age are equally important as younger people and it is wrong that you have been made to feel like this . Keep your chin ip and keep fighting x

My sympathy and understanding, Ever hopeful. I'm not sure how common such a medical response is  -  seems to as often DO treat even when little point. 

At 77 I'm not at all sure why I am receiving hugely expensive drugs with no prospect of an even short term "cure". And once pronounced "palliative only" (although that term covers a wide range of stages) it becomes a whole different game in my view.

Surely only say "not worth it" if treatment will not make any difference to life expectancy, whether from the disease itself or comorbidities.

Have you sought the second opinion to which you are entitled?

Good luck, Dave.

The problem isn't with my cancer treatment which, despite apalutamide giving me a seizure, I can't possibly criticise. Everyone involved in my cancer care has been excellent.

The problem is with other matters.  I have suffered from upper back pain all my life which osteopaths can no longer treat as they would in the past because I have a met on C7.Despite this my osteopath is managing to keep things bearable through deep massage which she can still do.

Seeking a more permanent solution I consulted the local physiotherapists who gave me some exercises to do but these made matters worse so they tried to refer me to a back specialist - such a referal from physiotherapy is normally pretty automatic - but the back specialist refused even to see me.  I am told the "solution" is pain killers but I don't want to live seeing the world through a fog. If the back specialists had seen me, investigated and then turn me down because the evidence suggested that  operating was too dangerous I would have understood but they didn't even give me an X-ray.  Why?

Ah, sorry, I jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Have you been given a reason? 

Good luck, Dave 

Hi Ever hopeful I would hope that it isn’t age related.  My take is that a surgeon would be reluctant operate with cancer lurking in nearby bones. I have read in the past that there is evidence that trauma can be linked to cancer, so I think the surgeon would be concerned about that.  Having said all that, I would have expected out of common decency, for him to explain that to you, if that is the reason.  Perhaps see if your physio can refer you again to someone else.