My mum has been having trouble breathing. Was admitted to hospital. They took fluid from her lungs. She was told yesterday she has lung cancer and no more information. We were told a junior doctor would see us today but nobody had. They are talking of letting her home tomorrow if her oxygen levels stay up. How can she come home when we do not know what type of cancer, how advanced, treatment etc. Where do we go from here?
Help: My mum has been having trouble... - The Roy Castle Lu...
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Hi and sorry to hear about your mum. You need to speak to someone at the hospital as your mum will need an appointment at the very least, to continue tests and decide what treatment she should have. Someone will have to discharge her and if you cant speak to anyone else, speak to them. You may have to be persistent.
Her GPis responsible overall for her health care and you may have to phone him and get him to intervene.
Hope you get more information and some help.
Best wishes. Julie
Hi I am sorry to hear about your mum, I had very similar recently whereby my mum was diagnosed suddenly without us having a clue until we were at the hospital one day. My advice would be you have to really keep on at the hospital to get the appointments and make sure she is booked onto all of the relevant meetings for them to decide treatment. They will likely have a MDT meeting every week so ask them what day the next one is for your mums type of cancer, the MDT meeting is a multidisciplinary meeting to discuss urgent cancer cases. Once she is booked onto that meeting the ball gets rolling for treatment.
Please try not to freak out and think the worst, I did exactly that and now 3 months on and mum is on treatment things are not as scary as first set out. The beginning of finding out is the hardest part but things will get better for her. The treatment is so amazing these days and there are so many amazing stories on here.
Just keep nagging the hospitals, once you get a couple of good contacts on side they can start following up and doing the legwork for you.
Good luck & take care
Hi Fiona,
Please take note of the excellent advice offered by jujuju and Be-positive. It is so important to ask questions, and get answers! Speak to the consultant in charge of your Mum's care, if S/He is not available then make an appointment via their secretary. You need to know what type of tumour it is, how advanced it is and what treatment they are proposing. Ask on the ward if there is a Lung Cancer Specialist nurse in the hospital, and if so, your mum should be referred to them, as they are a great source of information and support.
Wishing you all the best,
Beth, on behalf of information and support.
Surely she should be seen by a specialist who could arrange further tests for her