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Time between consultation and First chemo

lindy15
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Hi there,

I live in the Middle East and have recently found out I have multi-centric Breast Cancer.

I had a mastectomy last thursday and they removed 4 tumours in the breast and 12 lymph nodes as it had spread there.

We have an appt tomorrow morning which will show the full histology report and the Dr can recommend the type of Chemo Treatment which he wants to start in 2-4 weeks.

He fully understands that we want to research London Hospitals or Cancer clinics because we would be closer to home and family could be with us for support during chemo and mind our twin babies.

We are searching blind though because although luckily our insurance covers a number of hospitals in london, we don't know if there is a waiting list or if we do decide to head to london we fly this weekend, have a consultation and then find out there is a waiting time of 6 weeks or longer for chemo.

I don't even know if that's the way they do things first come first serve ?

Basically we are very lost in trying to make the best decision for us and our family for the next year.

I very much trust my doctor here but I want to make sure we are in the best place for support around chemo.

I would really appreciate your experiences.

Many thanks,

Lindy

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    Hello Lindy,

    Welcome to our forum!

    So how did your appointment go?

    You have come to the right place for advice as many on this forum will have had experience of waiting times before chemotherapy. It's been very busy on the forum recently so by my answering, your post will be bumped back to the top and hopefully others will be along soon to share their experiences with you. 

    Best wishes,
    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Hello Lindy ,

    I am one of the enquiry nurses,  Lucie asked me to have a look at your post.

    I am sorry to learn about your diagnosis and can appreciate this is a stressful time.

    I’m afraid we won’t know what the waiting times are to start chemotherapy in the private hospitals you are considering.  It might be a couple of weeks, and I doubt it if it would be much more, however this may depend on whether a specialist wanted to do any further investigations.  You can’t start chemotherapy until everything is well healed after surgery so in this sense there isn’t a big hurry to get started, but I think people often want to get going with their treatment.

    Most private hospital have managers who can give you information about how they do things and answer questions. I expect if you contact the hospitals you are considering they will be able to tell you more about their waiting times and their protocols for accepting patients from overseas. Hopefully your current specialist will be able to suggest the name of a London based consultant who will need a referral with the details of your medical history so far.

    I hope your last appointment went well and that you are able to find a London hospital that fits the bill. If you want to talk to us from overseas you can call on 020 3469 8355, we are in the office from Monday to Frdiay from 9am to 5pm.

    All the best,

    Julia

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