I have just had my monthly injection at the hospital. It took me an hour to get there, sat for an hour and 45 minutes waiting, had my injection ( less than 5 minutes) then an hour home.
The thing that got me is........I have not seen my consultant for 6 months now due to it being too Covid dangerous to go to the cancer unit but I sat for nearly 2 hours in the same cancer unit waiting for an injection! I also have to go and sit in out patients twice a month to have blood tests- my GP can’t do it and it is not done on the cancer unit, so just who is being protected?
I also had to call my GP today because I need a prescription review for the calcium tablets I have to take - can’t get those from the hospital. This will be done by phone-earliest appointment.....two weeks! Agggggggggg!
Ok, I’m fine now.
Thank you ladies, I needed that!
Hazel xxxx
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Lulusue
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Hazel (so your name's not Lulu? I'll confess that I'm a bit disappointed! ),
I def feel your pain...I hate waiting, in general (like a lot) and especially if it seems to be for a completely irrational reason!! The last thing we all need is more stress, let alone duration of possible exposure!
Maybe...????....they're minimizing in-person events that could actually be handles via phone or teledoc? Like, you can't get an injection or blood draw through a computer (yet!!!), but you can "meet" with the doc this way? I dunno, but I do agree that the waiting is awful and it seems like there's a somewhat irrational set of protocols in response to the virus...
Glad you got it off your chest! And if you really want an in-person meeting, can you ask for that? Maybe coinciding with another reason why you need to be there?
Yes, I know what you mean. I go in for bloods,(hour on public transport there and back) hang around sometimes crowded waiting room and then speak on onc on phone about them. It was worse when I was asked to do that plus hang around outside the hosp for 2 hours so that after the phone call with the onc (sitting inside) I could go back in and have my zometa infusion! Luckily I was put on denusumab which I can do at home to avoid that madness!
Wow! That is awful. I have never waited so long. I have the same problem. Takes me an hour to get to the hospital for a simple injection. I have wondered why the pharmacists couldn't be trained to do them. They agree. They do flu shots.
It has just been approved to have a home visit nurse to do the injections. That is great. Getting the blood work done is a different problem. Hope they can soon do blood work too.
Cheers, June S.
Hi Hazel,
I can understand your frustration. That’s a lot of time out of your day for a 5 minute appointment! I don’t understand some of the reasoning behind current rules in hospitals but hopefully we will soon see an improvement. Everything started off for me at the hospital (first zoladex injection, blood tests etc) but I then planned to do most things locally to make it easier.
So for my zoladex injection, my GP does that and my blood tests are taken care of at my local health clinic, which is 0.5 miles away, which is within easy walking distance. But I had to find that out for myself, as the blood test form only mentions the different hospitals where you can go. It’s 30 minutes to my hospital, so I prefer the convenience of doing it locally. I only visit the hospital for my CT scans and to see my oncologist, although the last visit in June was via videoconference. The next one will be too.
I think our medical team sometimes forgets that we have a life outside of being cancer patients. We don’t all have time to sit around and wait. I, for one, make sure that appointment days and times are convenient for me. I’m not trying to be difficult, but I work and have other responsibilities too, so I am not always available at certain times. My oncologist has been very good about taking my circumstances into account. So she will always look at her calendar and ask me what day I am available, rather than picking a day to see me next.
Welcome to my world. This happen to me all time plus I need Pay 600$ for put Xgeva at hospital 🤷♀️ And they don’t want give me the order for one cheaper place 😩
Lol! My point exactly! So now I still go to the Center for 3 hours every 3 weeks...no care givers allowed in...And they treat u like u have the plague! They don’t talk to u the whole 3 hours you’re there...It’s very cold...😢
What a pain. I've not seen my oncologist ever for an appointment because of Covid. But like you have to go for a blood test. Our hospital does at least have a fast track for cancer patients so normally I don't have to wait much. The only time I tried my GP they lost the test, now they've gone all online and it's impossible to speak to anyone!
Have a glass of wine later and watch something good on TV! Love Carolyn
I often used to have to wait quite awhile to see my onc, but I decided that didn't matter so much as she would always spend the time I needed with me when something was going on with the cancer or meds. But I don't like long waits for other things like Xgeva shots, which I have an appt for, or scans and blood draws. Around here (US, upper midwest) most medical practices have a person called the "practice manager" who is the best person to complain to about something like this. Sometimes they really don't know and need to hear from us! I have to travel about an hour and twenty minutes to a medium sized city when I need something that can't be done in the closest very small town where there is a small hospital that can do some scans and most blood work and where my onc comes a couple of times a week. At first I preferred driving the to large cancer center because I wanted to avoid small town gossip, but that means alot less to me now and I appreciate being able to do as much as I can locally.
So sorry, it’s infuriating as if it isn’t hard enough. Why can’t you have a telephone appointment with your oncologist? I have one this Monday (nhs) so that sounds like a cop out and you need to complain. I used to sit and wait for blood tests in outpatients until I discovered 6 months later you can book a slot 🙄🙄🙄 funnily enough they didn’t tell me so now I go straight through.
From the term GP you are using, I think you are in the UK. For a moment, I thought you went to Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where I go. Usually, I have to wait quite a long time for a 5 minute injection. Some time they said I could not have the injection because I was not in the system. That, after waiting for more than one hour. They could have said so earlier. That's life. I always have a book to read.
Doesn’t it just drive you nuts. I was having blood taken Tuesday. I had an appointment but they were a staff member down and had to wait an extra half hour. Wednesday back for my treatment. I still had to wait 30minutes over the so called strict appointment time but it was ok. I get my Calcium from the hospital along with my Ibrance and have my Denosumab jab but I have to get my Letrozole from the GP on prescription. It’s all sent to try us i think and we are supposed to be calm.
I have phone conversations with my Oncologist every 4 or 5 months, whatever suits him and even more alarming is 6 month wait for a CT scan when I’m supposed to have them every 3 months. Left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Crazy.
Glad you had a rant. Makes you feel a bit better. We don’t have to use public transport as we can walk to the hospital. That’s a blessing in disguise.
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