Cancer

[QuestionOf]

Close relative has recently been diagnosed with cancer. MDT met, outcome of the meeting is unknown yet but received a letter to see a surgeon week after next. Would that mean surgery to remove the cancer instead of/before other treatment if needed or would you automatically go and see the surgeon regardless of the order of treatment. Hope that makes sense. Thank you.

It depends.

Sorry, that doesn't help, does it? But it's really hard to advise without knowing what sort of cancer and whether it's been caught early.

Someone, probably a consultant, needs to sit down with the patient, explain what the recommended treatment plan is. Whether that's a surgeon or some other oncologist may depend on the individual hospital's set up.

There may not be a fully developed treatment plan yet, if they need to commission further tests to help decide the best management. But they are likely to have a broad idea of what will be involved and explain why they think this approach is the best.

It might be worth looking at the information pages of the main charity for the type of cancer, as they should be able to describe the typical options. CRUK have excellent info pages too, as do Macmillan

It's a tough time. Do look on google to see if there is a local cancer support service. They can provide or signpost a whole host of useful services (most of which may not even have occurred to you yet)

Thank you for your detailed reply. It does help. I have looked at Cancer Research, but without knowing what the outcome of the MDT is it’s hard to get your head around. There are so many variables I guess we will just have to wait and see. Thank you again for replying.

I appreciate that you want to know the order of events, what will happen next, etc. I really do. But having had cancer, I think you may need to let go of this idea that there will be a very clear path forward.

Mine chopped and changed frequently, it was a bit of a continuous cycle of never quite knowing what would happen when, and always waiting for some test result or other. It felt very much like a moving feast.

So I think you might help yourself, and the person involved, better if you focus on just getting through the next stage. I found it incredibly stressful when people around me wanted to timeline the steps when I had no clue whatsoever what they were! (Not saying you are doing that, but just wanted to give a personal experience.) Hope it all goes well. x

That absolutely makes sense @NotStayingIn, thank you. I will try and just take one step at a time. I hope you are better now xx

Yes all good thank you! And I still can't tell you what happened when, it's all a blur. But have faith in the process. Wishing you and your relative all the best. x x

Surgery is likely to be at least an option if the appointment is with a surgeon rather than an oncologist.

Wishing the best possible outcome for your relative.