How was it that Jade Goody's cancer went undetected? Not salacious, just medical.

[imaginaryfriend]

I have to confess that I've avoided all the Jade Goody stories so far.

So can anyone who's been following them tell me how they managed to miss such an advanced cancer? Is it true that she ignored a letter about an abnormal smear test? How was it finally detected?

I'm not being salacious. I've had to have a couple of fairly straight forward treatments for abnormal smears and the JG story has kept nagging at me. I now have to have repeat smears every 6 months, but if they're inaccurate how would I know if there was a problem?

cote ty x.

I have to admit I had CIN III when I was 20 and completely ignored it. It must have been a hefty dose of youthful immaturity/feeling of immortality or something, I don't know... - I was too busy partying at uni .
Anyway - the doctor ending up ringing my mum and talking to her. A week later I had a big chunk of cervix removed.

The other factor is that pelvic cancers are just so very hard to detect until it's too late. My mum died from ovarian cancer which is very similar - she had regular scans etc., but it wasn't detected until it had spread. The only symptoms she had were feeling bloated and some indigestion - not the kind of stuff that rings alarm bells, and the GP kept sending her away with antacids.

Think I read she said she hadn't taken the letters etc seriously. Poor silly girl. Re going blind - if the cancer has spread everywhere which apparently it has that is wuite possible. My Dad's lung cancer spread to his stomach, bones and brain and he was going blind - first losing peripheral vision. But he died before that happened - thankfully. He wasn't in great pain though - it was controlled very well which I have always found very reassuring as you can imagine. Sadly I have known many people who have died of different cancers and all have had pain well controlled - at the end they sleep a lot but not in pain.

thing is, lots of women miss the symptoms of cancer and it goes undetected. This month is ovarian cancer awareness month and they just had a woman on this morning talking about the symptoms of that and how women often fail to spot them until it's too late.

If Jade is going blind would that mean the cancer has spread to her brain?

Candlewax, can I just correct something you wrote - that the 'next stage after CIN III was terminal'. This isn't the case (and could panic anyone who's had a CIN III result. CIN III is still a pre-cancerous result, and although it does require pretty sharpish treatment doesn't mean the person has cancer!!!

I think you may be thinking of Stage 3 cervical cancer which is very different.

Wannabe - yes think it would have spread to her brain - see post about my Dad above. Ovarian is scary since harder to detect - more awareness good - and hope it gives women fobbed off by doctors more confidence to ask for tests if they are concerned.

the UK seems to be fortunately v. v. good at pain control for terminal cancers.

My mum lived & died in Germany - tbh it was a completely different picture there
She was in complete agony for weeks and treated very ineffectively, it was very harrowing and I still feel extremely bitter about the palliative care she received.

she is losing her sight because of the medication, not because of the cancer itself

But shortly before she was diagnosed she was in hospital, right? And had scans and blood tests and everything came back normal. So how the heck did they detect it in the end???

I don't think any of us is in full command of the facts of her case - unless one of us is her doctor breaking confidentiality so post on here. All we know is news reports which are hardly the most reliable source of information. So when she had scans and what they showed at different times is not really in the public domain. Trying to fathom the details ends up being gossip. The fact is, whatever tests she had and whether she ignored letters etc she is still a very unlucky but extremely plucky woman. Trying to analyse the progression of her illness is pointless really. I think if anyone wants to take anything from it, we should concentrate on her attitude (not to everyone's taste but who cares) and the positive message it sends to other people living with cancer. And be glad there are women who might not have to live with cancer because her publicity has upped the numbers of women attending their smear tests and taking it seriously.

I think you're missing my original point though - I'm concerned that even though she might have done all she could she still ended up with an awful cancer that was undetected.

I'm not so much interested in discussing JG herself (there are tons of threads on her here and discussions everywhere) as in discussing how such an advanced cancer could have been missed by doctors. That has wide repercussions for all of us.

I see what you mean. Yes it does. But maybe it wasn't being missed - she just didn't present herself in time, or ignored call backs. I don't know. And cancers do get missed - both my parents had cancers missed. In Dad's case might not have made much difference anyway but in my Mum's it could have done. I think if we feel there is a real problem - which is why we were at the docs in the first place - we have to be assertive to the point of obsession about getting to the bottom of what it is as quickly as possible. I have gone from being quite meek and accepting to a demanding old cow - due to experience. You know if you are a hypochondriac or not - and if you are worried and not being taken seriously or tests are not giving you an answer to have to persevere. Not ideal but medicine is not perfect and the people who practise it aren't superhuman. And some cancers advance very fast - tests aren't always ahead of the game. I don't know enough about JG's case to know what happened and what that might mean for anyone else.