3 people I’ve known this week have died from cancer that was diagnosed too late to treat, all died in weeks. And I’m really sad about it all.

[Afterfire]

Just that really. All relatively young (40s).

My mum and Gran both died of bowel cancer that wasn’t picked up on until it had spread to the point of being a death sentence- both died 6 weeks after diagnosis. Both had blood tests, colonoscopies, endoscopies, all sorts. All clear - only a CT scan showed it up in the end.

I thought that was unusual.

But then this week I’ve found out 3 people I have known - a distant friend, a teacher of my sons, and the relative of someone I’m close with; have all died in similar circumstances. One of them even had an unnecessary hysterectomy as they thought their problems were menopausal and only after that were they diagnosed with bowel cancer that had spread too far and they died weeks later.

We are persistently told that early detection prolongs life but all these people pushed and pushed for investigations which they were either denied or that came back clear.

Its left me feeling absolutely terrified of developing cancer and no one realising until it’s too late. I have multiple health conditions as it is and of course with my family history of bowel cancer I am extra vigilant but experience has taught me even if I get the all clear it doesn’t mean everything is okay.

Please be kind. I’m feeling really low and fragile. Everything just seems so pointless when people suddenly die like this. Too young. Just horrendous.

I would rather have a swift process from diagnosis to death of just a few weeks. Let's just get it all over with and zero fuss

And what about those of us who make a full recovery from cancer?? Statistical anomalies?

Most people with bowel cancer recover. But ONLY if they are referred and treated promptly. Which is a problem when most GP’s can’t diagnose their way out of a damp
paper bag.

It's so sad isn't it. Have know a couple of people in similar situations, one a very close friend.

What really upsets me is the government adverts telling you to go and see your doctor if something doesn't feel quite right. HOW? There aren't appointments available (thanks to the Tories) and often people are left waiting months or years for referrals when not on the 2 week pathway.

FIL was back and forth to the doctors with hip pain and discovered too late that it was cancer related. This was a few years ago but things are worse now.

My own dad has been waiting 4 months now for an urgent kidney referral and his appointment (tomorrow) has just been cancelled.

MyGP practice has gone really downhill since Covid. I have a lump on my back that’s itchy, bleeds and is growing. I phoned the surgery and was told to send a photo, which I did. I had a text acknowledgment and waited. And waited. After 2 weeks of trying to get through I was told that they didn’t have the photo, despite my having a text. Then they said it hadn’t been uploaded to my notes. Eventually after 3 weeks I had a GP appointment and he said I needed seeing urgently. 3 weeks further on zilch.
I’m now trying to get a private appointment. Nearly 7 weeks and counting.
So it doesn’t surprise me one bit at how dreadfully letdown people feel.

Don't blame you, op. My gran was feeling unwell in April, kept going back to the doctor saying she couldn't breathe properly and was losing weight. Doctor kept saying it was an infection without checking anything properly. Finally August rolls around and doctor sends my gran for a proper check up: lung cancer. Too far gone, died a week later. She was not very assertive and I remember her telling me "what if it's cancer" so she clearly had a gut feeling but nobody listened until it was too late. My uncle (her son), was feeling off this year, he pushed for tests and the doctors told him he was healthy and to go home. This happened a few times but because of what happened to my gran, my uncle kept going back and insisting that something didn't feel right so they sent him for a proper check and he has kidney cancer. He's currently waiting to see the consultant and it's been 4 months. I'm livid about the whole thing honestly.

I'm sorry for your losses, op. It's just incredibly sad what a dire state the health care system is in in the UK.

April 10 years ago, not this April. So even back then, it still wasn't great.

@YanTanTetheraPetheraPimp I had a neck lump for years previous GPs did nothing about despite me being really unwell, and when I went private soon after he said it was goitre as I was also diagnosed hypothyroid by him ( not on NHS ) and low low iodine. The lump though was never looked at. I got a new GP recently and she had a good look and sent me for an ultrasound in June, the appointment only took 6 weeks of waiting and results in a couple of days. Without a biopsy they couldn’t say 100%, but my doctor recommended I leave it there unless it 1 grows, which it hasn’t ever it was just the same swollen size for years or 2 it hardened. Mine is spongy and moves easily. Lots of people have harmless lumps. I would insist on an ultrasound at the very least. I worried so much for years over mine.

There have always been poor GPs, both NHS and private. Put the work into finding a good one.

Most of the time you have no choice which Gp you have. I live rurally. There’s only one GP practice I can register with. That’s the reality for a lot of people. I can’t just move to find a better Gp!

Only because we are living longer.
Cancer is no more common now, when adjusted for life expectancy, than it was in Medieval times. Medieval skeletons have been analysed for cancer markers, and prevalence was something like 9%. If you look at age comparisons, it is still 10% for ages up to 49.

Yes, we are more likely to experience cancer now, but that is mostly down to increase in age. Which is a good thing, on balance. But you have to die of something, eventually.....

Some stats on bowel cancer from the BMJ for you @BigWoollyJumpers

Among 20-29 year olds, bowel cancer incidence rose from 0.8 to 2.3 cases per 100,000 people between 1990 and 2016, and the sharpest rise was between 2004 and 2016 at 7.9% per year

In 10 years, 1 in 10 cases of bowel cancer will be in under 50’s. The increase is astonishing (and fuck all to do with living longer).

Don’t worry though - most GP’s didn’t get the memo either and this is literally their job 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's awful that gp's dismiss people who come forward due to nhs campaigns and adverts for months or years and then they have stage 4 cancer.
The BMA restrict places, one reason quoted is to not devalue the profession by having too many qualified Dr's. Now that really is a scandal! It's not just due to training places although we couldn't possibly train enough right now due to that, it's over 10 years of less placements than needed as the BMA want Dr's to be feted.
Also if 65% appointments were ftf then 35% were not, so it is actually categorically true that a significant minority cannot see a Dr ftf, obviously! Poor maths from a pp earlier there.

Yep. Prime example - the advert for “if you have had a cough longer than 2 weeks…” get checked for lung cancer one. Dh and I scoff at that one every time it comes on and both of us have personally had experience of this as well as knowing others who have and chances are if you even manage to get some sort of appointment they’ll just tell you you’ve got a virus and send you off to take paracetamol. It does seem now that it pays to be persistent. It’s almost like the doctors send you off to see if you’ll come back and THEN they might actually do something… maybe…

Also if 65% appointments were ftf then 35% were not, so it is actually categorically true that a significant minority cannot see a Dr ftf, obviously! Poor maths from a pp earlier there.

No it's not.
That 35% might have preferred and chosen a phone or video consultation. I would most of the time prefer remote and you have no idea how many of the 35% also chose remote.

Agree with you about dismissing people who want appointments due the health campaigns.
I mentioned that I have a Ukrainian family living with me, when they first arrived we had a list of things to register them for. Included in this was 'register with NHS dentist ' just listed, as if that was a thing you can do.
It makes me so angry the winding down of public services under the Tories, they always do it when in office and yet the public love them. We have the health service we deserve and voted for.

Against the tide of underfunding and the supposed running down of the NHS - it has to be noted that every year for the last 20 years or so (and before that), the NHS has consistently treated more people in A&E, done more operations, supported more people in their homes etc etc etc.

The issue is that there are more demands on healthcare, and that funding hasn't kept up. Of course this is a decision by governments, but, it is not in any way a running down of the health service. Also you have to ask yourself, where do we draw the lines on priorities.

The biggest single issue is still the block in social care which was not planned for. 30% of beds are occupied by blockers. Average age was rising for decades, and there wasn't any planning to deal with this, by all governments of the past. They didn't plan early enough to increase the pension age, they didn't plan early enough for a huge rise in elderly frail people needing high levels of social care. And it is only going to get worse, irrespective of the amount of money you throw at it!

The issue is that there are more demands on healthcare, and that funding hasn't kept up.

There has been billions pumped into the NHS. It’s not the answer.

The answer is a healthier population with a priority on preventative healthcare. If you are moaning about the country and the NHS, the best thing you can do is be responsible for your own health. We have 2/3rds of the adult population overweight or obese! That’s disgusting!

@WahineToa People also drink & smoke (I do the latter!) but if you start excluding people who don't 'deserve' to be treated, where does it end? Can't have foot treatment because you were stupid enough to have worn high heels for years? I do see your point but it's not as simplistic as that, one assumes people are obese for many reasons, not just because they like stuffing their faces..

I guess it seems obvious to most of us that the old people who are 'blocking beds' should be moved to temporary or permanent care homes, but where are the staff to run them? As @BigWoollyJumpers says, no forward planning.. those old people are the ones who worked their socks off to make this country great, & are now stuck in hospital beds staring at walls.. :-( What an awful end for them.

Just jumping on to say - If your mum and gran both died of bowel cancer, you must get screened to see if you carry the Lynch gene. It's like BRACA but lesser known and so many families carry without realising, it can raise your risk of bowel, womb and other cancers up to 80%. Once they know you have it you get regular screening. Push for tests.

@mamabear715 but if you start excluding people who don't 'deserve' to be treated, where does it end? Can't have foot treatment because you were stupid enough to have worn high heels for years? I do see your point but it's not as simplistic as that, one assumes people are obese for many reasons, not just because they like stuffing their faces..

I never said anyone should be excluded. I’m talking about personal responsibility and a change of policy and focus onto preventative healthcare and education around that. Not simplistic at all, it’s a complex generational shift in thinking. I think the high heel analogy is a poor one. There is an enormous amount of research on obesity and it’s impact on health. It costs us a significant amount of money to deal with. The same cannot he said for high heels. There are a small minority who have other health issues first, obesity comes with it, but that’s simply not the majority. I have a health condition that people use an excuse to be overweight, but I have invested in myself by learning about my condition and striving to be a healthy weight regardless and so can others. Does everyone here complaining about the NHS exercise every day for example? I bet not.

So many sad stories here and my condolences go out to you all. I had cancer 5 years ago and it was discovered again during covid and was whizzed through the system. Having said that if it hadn't been for some issues with side effects it would never have been noticed as I had no regular checks. Many more people will die of undiagnosed issues. Shutting the world down for covid has and will continue to cause more deaths.

Having bee in 3 separate hospitals recently it would appear a large percentage of staff are way over their ideal weight. There's a starting point to lead by example.

Agreed, silverclock.

Op and others, I’m so sorry for your losses. As a nurse, I treat people with chemotherapy so deal with cancer day in, day out so I see first hand how heartbreaking it can be.

However, I am a believer in the nhs. There are certainly parts of it that are broken and I just wanted to add my opinions to what now seems to be an nhs bashing thread…

-everyone I know in the nhs is doing their best. There are so many of us going above and beyond every day. Thankfully in my unit we get so many gifts/cards from grateful patients expressing their gratitude because other the nhs bashing reduces morale
-someone mentioned part time working. Admin staff are really hard to employ nowadays. They can earn more working in Aldi for a lot less stress. A part time worker is better than none. Just because we work for the nhs doesn’t mean that we owe you to work full time
-many GPs work “part time” but in reality their days are long. So 2 days may easily equate to 20/30 hours
-there are massive workforce gaps in the nhs. Brexit meant that we lost staff and so many other healthcare workers are leaving. On our unit we just cannot recruit despite advertising multiple times. Pay is appalling for the lower bands (admin/care assistants)
-many cancers such as pancreatic cancers have such non specific symptoms it can be hard to diagnose until it’s too late. There is no specific blood test or scan that will pick up cancers and you cannot do tests on everyone as it’s not cost effective. If you scanned everyone for every symptom then waiting lists would be even higher. There are such great expectations on the nhs as a whole but there just aren’t the staff or resources available
-GPs never stopped doing f2f appointments but they had to restrict them to protect themselves and others from covid. If they are restricting them now its because there’s simply not enough GPs to see everyone

I know many of you have had bad experiences with the nhs but please show some compassion to the majority of staff that are doing their utmost to help you. Please think about the effect that GP/nhs bashing is having on the professions because honestly it makes you feel undervalued, unappreciated and wanting to leave.

My friend's neighbour has just passed away age 54 with parkinsons. So young. So sad.
Lockdowns ofcourse made it impossible to get treatment and many felt they shouldn't bother their doctors.

Many people in 21st century Britain struggle with the fact that life is uncertain, that people of all ages die and many diseases are hard to diagnose.

They search for someone to blame.

Early diagnosis of cancer often means just living with something that's going to kill you for longer. So if someone dies six weeks after diagnosis, there's a good chance they would gave died on that date even if their cancer had been found 3 years ago.