Mrs T,

I share your frustration about poor communication from medics, who sometimes assume you understand all the jargon they use. If your husband has an M0 status, technically what he was initially told was partly true ... the cancer hasn't spread outside the immediate area. If it had spread the staging would be M1. It is very bad practice to give news like this over the phone, because it can lead to exactly this sort of confusion. There have been other cases where someone has been initially told their MRI scans looked clear, only for the more detailed radiologists report to contradict this a few days later. Again, best practice is to say nothing until the detailed report has been received.

I'm not a medic but when I was first diagnosed with cancer last September both the oncologist and my GP told me not to pay too much notice to any estimates of time scales as these are based on averages. More easily said than done when you've just been told by them that worst case you have just two months to live and that average life expectancy is ten months from diagnosis. It is worth remembering that these averages include people who weren't diagnosed until it was too late, people who refused treatment, people who were too weak for surgery or chemo as they were already very ill with other conditions and very old people who were already dying (sorry to be so blunt). Statistics also tend to be out of date and reflect the situation several years ago before new drugs and other treatments were available.

I hope this helps a little. Your husband's situation is very serious, but perhaps not as bleak as it has been painted so far.

Best wishes and I hope Monday's scan went OK

Dave

Mrs T,

I share your frustration about poor communication from medics, who sometimes assume you understand all the jargon they use. If your husband has an M0 status, technically what he was initially told was partly true ... the cancer hasn't spread outside the immediate area. If it had spread the staging would be M1. It is very bad practice to give news like this over the phone, because it can lead to exactly this sort of confusion. There have been other cases where someone has been initially told their MRI scans looked clear, only for the more detailed radiologists report to contradict this a few days later. Again, best practice is to say nothing until the detailed report has been received.

I'm not a medic but when I was first diagnosed with cancer last September both the oncologist and my GP told me not to pay too much notice to any estimates of time scales as these are based on averages. More easily said than done when you've just been told by them that worst case you have just two months to live and that average life expectancy is ten months from diagnosis. It is worth remembering that these averages include people who weren't diagnosed until it was too late, people who refused treatment, people who were too weak for surgery or chemo as they were already very ill with other conditions and very old people who were already dying (sorry to be so blunt). Statistics also tend to be out of date and reflect the situation several years ago before new drugs and other treatments were available.

I hope this helps a little. Your husband's situation is very serious, but perhaps not as bleak as it has been painted so far.

Best wishes and I hope Monday's scan went OK

Dave