Hi there, wondered if I could ask for your advice please? My Mum passed away at the beginning of September from extensive stage small cell lung cancer.
It all happened so quickly. She went to the GP at the end of June for the first time, and was told she had a chest infection. Had a chest X-Ray done around then which didn’t spot any abnormalities to do with cancer, but did suggest she had pneumonia. When things didn’t improve, she kept seeing the GP in person and speaking to them on the phone multiple times, and was given antibiotics a number of times.
When her condition wasn’t improving, I took her to A&E on July 15th and she was discharged but had a follow-up CT scan booked for the following week. Took her again to A&E on August 1st which is the date she was admitted to hospital, and was same day doctors ended up calling with the results of her CT scan. She ended up staying in hospital from August 1st to beginning of September when she passed away.
I’m tormented by thoughts of whether I could have done more to help my Mum. Specifically, wondering if I had taken her to hospital on the week beginning July 22nd whether she would have had a better chance of survival. She called the GP that week but they didn’t really give her anything.
Do you think getting treatment a week / week and a half earlier would have improved her chances of survival? I have spoken to a number of doctors and nurses about this and they said situation would still be the same. Also spoken to people on other cancer forums and they echo this as well.
