Cat among the pigeons

I was going to do the ironing today. I thought I should have time before I go to my 3 appointments at the hospital. However, I’ve abandoned that idea having been delayed by a phone call from the hospital.

It was the MacMillan nurse attached to the surgeon at the Breast Clinic. She’d seen the e-mail & wanted to make sure there was no confusion in me as to what was happening next. What e-mail? I thought.

She seemed to think that she’d said something to cause the confusion. I assured her she was in no way responsible for any confusion. I was clear that I was seeing the oncologist today & expected to start chemo on Monday, though this may be changed if the results of the CT scan I had last week show something to suggest a different course of treatment.

I did admit I had been confused at receiving a copy of the letter sent to the GP stating I was to have radiotherapy to then receive a phone call from this nurse to say it was to be chemo. I had already clarified that with her by phone later that week.

I also admitted I had asked for a second opinion as clearly none of the specialists at the RLI (Royal Lancaster Infirmary) had ever seen a growth like this in this position behaving as this is. I went on to add I knew some of the information I had been given by some of the specialists was wrong as I had spoken to my cousin, head of radiotherapy at Christie’s Hospital Manchester.

From the MacMillan nurse’s reaction she had clearly heard I’d consulted my relative. Presumably the e-mail was the letter from my GP asking for a second opinion. It had clearly scared them a bit. I assured her that I just wanted validation that the process we were following was a reasonable one. If the second opinion confirmed that, I would probably continue with my present team & the treatment they advised.

At that, the nurse was happy to end the call but she asked me to phone her to let her know what the oncologist says today. I couldn’t help thinking it says something about the failure of communication within the team that it should be up to me to tell the various parties what they each said to me.

Now we wait to see what the oncologist says later today.