We read about the importance of early diagnosis of lung cancer and how early diagnosis can impact on the life expectancy and survival rate of someone with cancer. But what if you consultant a GP with symptoms of lung cancer and the GP does not follow the NICE guidelines for suspected cancer; recognition and referral?????? If you alert a GP with a number of cancer symptons but it then takes 8 months before a GP finally sends you for a chest X Ray. What does this say about the ignorance of cancer symptoms and NICE proceedures with our GP's.
My mother complained of breathlessness,cough, pains in her shoulder, her back, her chest, she had problems sleeping on her right side for these reasons, and she lost her voice, the doctor gave my mother a course of antibiotics then another course when the symptoms didn't improve he tried a course of steroids which again didn't help 8 months later my mother finally had a chest X Ray which showed a shadow on her right lung it was only then that things started to move, mum had a GP blood test, CT Scan, Bronchoscopy, 6 days in hospital to monitor her breathing which resulted in a dependency of oxygen and then received the diagnosis of advanced small cell lung cancer which had spread to her chest wall, liver and kidney she was told that the cancer was incurable. She was given a course of 5 days palliative chemo, 1 radiotherapy session to target a tumour in her artery thereafter it was steroids all the way. My mum was dying and there was nothing that we could do about it. I looked after my mum for 4 months and have seen sights that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Watching someone that you love die so horribly is heartbreaking mum passed way December 28th.
Everybody deserves the right to fight cancer but how can you hope for an early diagnosis when GP's are not following NICE Legislation, my question is, does this sound like medical negligence to you? or is it simply just bad luck for her that the GP did not recognise the symptoms for refferal. Your thoughts would be valued. And what would you do now if you were me and it had been your mother?
Statisics shows that with early diagnosis which is stage 1 1A small cell cancer 40% of people will survive for 5 years or more after diagnosis with 20% surviving for stage 1B small cell cancer for 5 years or more
Stage 1
Stage 1 small cell lung cancer is divided into stage 1A and 1B.
For stage 1A small cell lung cancer, almost 40 out of every 100 people (almost 40%) will survive for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
For stage 1B small cell lung cancer, around 20 out of every 100 people (around 20%) will survive for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.
Cancer Research UK, www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../statistics-and-outlook-for-lung-cancer Accessed [Jan][2017].
