mr

I'm a 16 year old boy, just need to ask a few things about my grandfather, he had breast cancer 9 years ago, they said it could of been caused by his lifestyle, the cancer got removed which I'm extremely greatful that it got taken away, he had his breast removed, both sets of linfnotes got removed, he got through it, his consultant told he your "cancer free" after his breast got removed he had reqular tests for cancer for 2 years, so that makes it seven years ago that it all ended, he changed his lifestyle massively But in the last month he got rushed to hospital had a heart attack then a blood clot, but on Tuesday we got told that he had terminal lung cancer a mass not a speak, that they can't do nothing but my question is why wasnt it detected before he got rushed in. He's a 73 year old man He got asthma Diabetes Lots of other problems including weightproblems But when they did the first scan they said a spec which was 3 weeks ago he had the second scan 2 day's later which I saw the cancer my self it was not a spek but more like the size of a size 12 baby shoe the cancer has branches coming of it, the one lung was 80% dead, In the last five years he's suffered with lumonia, had frequent colds but in the last 2 years had at least 5 serious colds, blood tests weekly, but never taken for a chest scan, or nothing to do with cancer, in the blood tests lots of abnormalities over 2 years, his gp just gave him antibiotics and steroids everytime he's gone there with a cold, untill a month ago he got taken in, my over all question is do you think if his gp made the effort to phone for a scan or instead of putting his blood test down to his illnesses we could of found it before? The new consultant which is from London asked "were has your gp been" he stated that the mass wasnt nothing new it had been there for a while, just want help on if it should of been detected before a month ago considering he was having blood tests and regular appointments with his gp and that he had cancer once but got it got taken away?

  • Hi there, welcome to the forum, but sorry to hear about your Grandad having so much problem with his illness. You seem like a very caring young man and your Grandad is very fortunate to have you in his life. I wish I could shed some light on this for you, but I'm not a medical person. I'm just another person on this forum dealing with cancer and we support one another on here the best we can. I hope you have family there to be a support to you and your Grandad because this disease is a very difficult thing to cope with. I can't answer your questions about why your Grandad's doctor didn't pick up on his lung cancer before now. Cancer is a very sneaky disease and many people walk around with it for years without knowing they have it until they get really sick, even though they may be in regular contact with their doctor.

    Perhaps you can be with your Grandad the next time he visits his doctor and he may be able to answer some questions for you. The other thing you may find helpful is to call the nurses here on this forum and ask them some questions about your Grandad's illness. Their phone number is listed on the bottom of this page. We, as patients, and also family members, get annoyed with doctors when we think they could be doing more about cancer. We need to remind ourselves that doctors are only human and they can only do the best they can with what they know. They have a hard job to do and I know they wish they could wave a magic wand and make people better from cancer and many other diseases.

    I hope you come back on the forum and let us know how your Grandad is getting along, and how you are managing to get some answers to your questions. You seem like a very fine and caring yount man and that is a wonderful quality to have. Take care of yourself and get some support there from family members.

    Lorraine