Did anyone have a follow up appointment with their surgical team during chemo? Came home to a letter that I thought would be my CTscan appointment to find that I have a follow up appointment with my Gynae oncologist at the end of the month- haven't seen her since after my op as I am now looked after in the oncology centre. Very alarmed at this- only spoke to my CNS today and she mentioned nothing about it and said I wouldn't be seen again until my next pre chemo assessment on 2nd sept??? Can't call my CNS as inspite of there being 3 of them they don't work on Fridays!!! Not helping my already raised stress/anxiety levels. I don't think there is anyone I can contact until after the weekend.
Any ideas?
Claire
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Pimkin81
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I have separate follow up appointments with the surgeon, or someone from his team, as well as check ups with the oncology team at a different hospital. I see the oncologist every three months and the surgeon every six months. I find it reassuring having the two different teams keeping an eye on me in case one of them miss something. I am sure this unexpected appointment is nothing to worry about. I definitely saw my surgeon mid way through chemo. However, it is also possible that this appointment is due to an admin error. It may be worth trying to contact your surgeon's secretary as I find they usually know what is going on and can be easier to get hold of than the CNS.
Thank you so much Ann- it is actually 6 months since my first surgery so that could very well be it. You have put my mind at ease a little- hopefully they will confirm this on Monday. C
Yep - I had follow ups monthly, then 3 monthly with the surgeon/his team too! I don't think you need to worry!
I know exactly what you mean when you see the envelope from a hospital and then an impersonal appointment having been set up. It does make you worry at first but I'm sure it's just a routine follow-up appointment with your surgeon and this seems to me to be very good practice. I didn't have anything like this but in retrospect I wish I did. I recall my husband asking at my 6 weeks check-up after surgery if they were satisfied everything had mended but they weren't interested. Job done, passed on to another hospital. It's good your surgical team are following your progress - particularly as radical surgery is seen these days as our greatest hope.
I hope the appointment goes well. Hopefully you'll be reassured by the replies here and you feel a bit better about it by now. xxx
Thanks Annie- I think I am just very on edge at the moment! My surgical team were brilliant, I am just quite anxious I think as going in they thought borderline- and we had agreed conservative surgery due to my age so I had one ovary removed and the other just had a cystectomy. Upon final pathology they found an area of low grade cancer but mostly I had borderline tumours, so I am a bit of an unusual case. And I keep expecting them to call me back in and take the remaining bit away!!
Must try not to panic so much. I am off to a wonderful Michelin starred restaurant tomorrow night in the depths of Somerset to celebrate 10 years with my (now) husband so at least I have something to take my mind of everything.
I would call the Secretary of the person you are seeing , explain that you were not expecting this letter an ask why you have received it ....this is perfectly reasonable. It could be an error , in which case the appointment could be given to somebody else.
I had follow up with the gynae after my debulking as well as the chemo clinic. This was to check on the healing, the post op infection that I had and, he said, any adhesions. I had further surgery after recurrence and was followed up by the gynae, now, with further recurrence, I am back with the onc and awaiting further chemo. I feel reassured that I am getting such thorough care, mind you I always did do belt and braces!
hope this helps
Margaret
Hi Claire
I had separate appointments after also - just think of it this way: your oncologist knows little about surgery and its physical intricacies or impacts. they focus on the tumour and its progress/regression only. The people who do are the surgical team - it's logical there would be a separate follow up path. It simply isn't reasonable to think they would have some dreadful revelation for you after 6 months (which is where your mind immediately went, right?), as they haven't seen you or done any further work! I would think that the only thing it really CAN be is to find out how your body is now, as it relates to having had major surgery some time ago...
Thanks for the sage advice- it is just so easy to get yourself in a total state and fear the worst!! Feeling reassured that it is only a check up and that's a good thing! Claire
I had a separate follow up after surgery just so they could check everything was fine after the op. It was different to the onc as they check you are okay surgically and healing up.
On a different note I noticed your profile picture. We are going to Bristol with my family on Saturday for the fiesta and was going to see some of the gromits around the city. I actually live in norfolk and in Norwich they have painted gorillas around the city to raise money. It is a great way to get fit walking around finding as many as you can.
The gromits are brilliant! I have found 58 so far they are all over the city. Hope you enjoy the balloon fiesta- hoping to see the Red Arrows from our office today. I was in Norwich a couple of weeks ago and saw a few gorillas!
Try not to panic, something similar happened to me a few months ago- got unexpected urgernt surgical oncology appt a few weeks after had some tests done at another hospital. Spoke to cns on the Monday ( yes my letter arrived on a sat am...saying appt was the the next wed - .) . Apparently al whole number of patients had been called by the sppointment clerk for their appts 3 m early by mistake. She apologise and said I could still come if it had made me feel very anxious - I declined. Appt clerks do sometimes make mistakes,
You could speak to the consultants secretary and ask her to check your records to see if any reason for this appointment- she can do this if you give her your unit number - your letters etc will all be her computer. If in doubly she may speak to the consultant involved to check and ring you back- assuming she sees them today.
High I also live in Bristol so see same team as you? I had to see surgeon again routine don't worry, we love our gromits to, I also loved the Gorillas wanted to buy the black one in Anchor Road, Is that where you work? looking foreward to the balloon festival this week end but not the traffic jams,I work in Broadmead Art Original top of Union St. if ever you want to chat do call in. Sure alls well Love Jenny
Hi Jenny- yes I am seen at St Michaels -Dr Bailey and Dr Walther. I do work on Anchor road- we have the Union Jack gromit outside our office this time!
Glad to hear you were called back too- just threw me a little as I had gone through the next steps on Monday with oncology dr and she mentioned nothing about this app, but then she might not have known!! I know the shop so may call in!
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