Lack of communication

Soooooo, today I am going to have a RANT about lack of communication within the medical professions.  Actually I could rant about lack of communication within a lot of professions but lets just stick to one at a time!

5 years ago I had breast cancer.  I only found out that I had breast cancer because I went for a mammogram, aged 52, at the mobile screening unit that visited my town.  I had no lump, I didn't feel unwell.................... if it hadn't been for the routine screening visit I would never have known I had cancer.  After a few trips to the local hospital for more tests, and a very bruised boob, I was told the news that no woman wants to hear - 'you've got breast cancer.'

My first question was; 'Am I going to die?'  And the reply, 'No, not from this you're not.  I'm just going to get a breast care nurse to sit with you.'  Obviously dealing with a hysterical middle aged woman is not part of a doctors job.  They have minions to deal with that kind of thing!!!

.................BUT my rant today is not about reliving the trauma of having breast cancer though I do actually have a lot to say about it. Lol!  My rant today is about the lack of communication about what happens next.

At the beginning of the week I went for my final mammogram.  Whoopee doo.  Except it's not actually whoopee doo!  For the last three years the hospital has ran a 'drop in' centre for breast cancer patients.  That means that I have to remember that in September I have to go for a mammogram.  I'm very organised so I always go.  But what about the people who aren't organised or don't remember to go?  Does anybody actually chase them up?  This is peoples lives we're talking about.

I've had breast cancer and I've read that one is never actually free of cancer so maybe I've still got it.  But the 5 year period is up so now I just go back to visiting the mobile breast screening unit that visits my town once every three years. 

So I said to the mammogram lady, 'This is my 5th year, do I need to come here any more?'  And she tapped away on her computer and said, 'No you can go back to 3 yearly screening now.'  And I said, 'When is the mobile unit next visiting my town?'  And she said, 'November but obviously you won't need to go in November because you've had a mammogram now.'  Sooo actually it's going to be more than 3 years before I'm checked again ......................and in that time I could be dead!!!

Then I asked when I could stop taking the tablets.  Anastrozole- I was told I had to take them for 5 years.  'Mammogram' lady didn't have a clue.  Apparently she just takes the mammograms.  What a boring job - squishing boobs onto x-ray plates all day long!  She said,  'Would you like to speak to a breast cancer nurse?'  I didn't want to speak to a breast cancer nurse but I wanted to know if I could stop taking the tablets, so I said, 'That would be great, thank you.'

So back I went into the waiting room with magazines from years ago and eventually got called by the breast cancer nurse.  Conversation went a bit like this:

Nurse - 'How can I help you?'

Me - 'I'd just like to know if I can stop taking anstrozole now because I was told that I had to take it for 5 years and the 5 years is up now.

Nurse - What has your doctor said?

Me - 'I haven't seen my doctor.  As far as I know my doctor doesn't even know I've had cancer.'

Nurse - 'I'll just check for you.'  A lot of frantic tapping away at the computer ensured, interspersed with comments like, 'the system is very slow today.'

................And then eventually 'breast cancer nurse' told me that I could stop taking anastrozole because she could see from my records that I had actually been on it for 5 years.  At which point I said, 'Do I not have to see a doctor or someone who will tell me that I'm now cancer free?'

Apparently not!!!

Breast cancer nurse asked if I'd been told what would happen re mammograms in the future and I was sent on my way.

........................And that was it!!!  No reassuring little chat that I'd survived 5 years.  Nothing??!!

.......................And then two days later I get a letter saying, 'We have been unable to contact you by telephone to inform you that your doctor would like you to make an appointment at the surgery to have a routine medication review.'  Well that's a load of rubbish for a start - nobody has left me any messages from the surgery at all.

Sooooo.......................... I phone the surgery (after 10.30am as requested in the letter) and get an automated message.  And I hold on for 7mins & 40secs before I actually manage to speck to a 'real life person'.  And the 'real life person' says, 'Who is your doctor?'  And I say, 'I haven't a clue?'

I registered with the doctors surgery more than 14 years ago and have never, ever seen a doctor since.  'Real life person' takes a lot of personal details from me and tells me who my doctor is.  She follows this up with the comment, 'He's really booked up.  The earliest he can see you is 7th October.'

I suspect that 'my doctor' just wants to tell me that I can stop taking anastrozole, but as the 'breast care nurse' has already told me that I can stop at the end of the current packet; I suspect that a visit to my doctors in a months time will be a complete waste of time.  But it would appear that the hospital does not liase with the doctors surgery so I am going to have a wasted trip and the doctor is going to have a wasted appointment, but hey ho, as long as everything is recorded on some database somewhere then that's OK isn't it???

In the 1960/70s the hierarchy of the NHS system was so much easier, so much more caring and so much more empathic.

At the end of the day................................ I just want someone to care about me.  I want someone to hold my hand and tell me I'm going to be OK.  I want someone to say, 'You've had breast cancer but now you've beaten it'.  I want someone to reassure me.

................That's not going to happen is it?????

There's far too many so called professionals involved these days.  And none of them seem to communicate with each other?? 

What on earth was wrong with good old fashioned doctors, nurses, matrons and surgeons?