"The waiting and the constant chasing makes me feel irritated and angry."
My mother, Rosemary, had to wait 8 months to be diagnosed with lung cancer as a result of delayed appointments. She finally had targeted treatment on the tumour in January but is yet to be told the results, and so we have no idea if the treatment has been effective.
The waiting is endless, and she feels very fortunate she has children. She’s said she would have given up without us because she’s had enough. She’s had enough of waiting for phone calls that never arrive or letters that come too late.
I’m constantly trying to chase appointments for her on the phone. If I get through to someone one minute I’ll get told her appointment is this date but then the next minute I’ll be told the appointment is pushed back and it’s via telephone. You certainly cannot do a CT scan over the phone. Her next follow up appointment is in October and it’s long, long overdue.
"The last time I took my mum to hospital, she was in a corridor for over 36 hours despite being a lung cancer patient. "
I feel guilty because the waiting and the constant chasing makes me feel irritated and angry. I’ve not been able to fully process my own diagnosis and recovery as I’m constantly stuck in lung cancer ‘limbo’ trying to chase appointments for my mum. I think to myself, am I ever going to get away from lung cancer?
“It’s not in my family’s nature to give up but my mum has had enough. I can see it in her, how it’s getting her down. ”
The state of the NHS is shocking, and patients like my mum are being left to fall through the cracks. Especially as we know delays in getting scans and treatment can cause cancers to progress to a further stage.
It affects the whole family as my mum doesn’t want to burden anyone, and she doesn’t want to ask for too much as she understands the NHS is understaffed and they’re doing their best. I lost my father to lung cancer in 2012 and I don’t want to lose my mother. I’m doing my best to keep her here with me.
My mum had targeted treatment on her lung cancer, which was a beam, so she had a mould made. After which the doctors needed to check her status and see if the treatment has worked or if the cancer is still there. But she’s had no follow up appointments. Has it worked? Has it shrunk? We still don’t know. We were meant to have a follow up appointment but it was cancelled. They said they would speak to my mother on the phone but nobody rang her.
