Hiya ...... it may be an idea to call the nurses here on the site in the morning, I am sure they would be able to give you some advice. Their number is shown at the bottom of the page and is free to call.

When I had a second opinion, I asked my GP to arrange it, after googling the hospital in question and going to their 'find a consultant' section.  I am lucky, my GP is very helpful though. As far as I am aware, all scans are on a main system and can be accessed or sent between hospitals. You may need to ask for them to be made accessible to the RMH.  Very best of luck x

Hi Max56, 

Thanks for taking the time to reply to me - much appreciated. 

I will start looking into this tomorrow. I worry that the fact that she is 66 (class as an OAP i suppose), they don't really care as much as they would for a srping chicken. That she isn't a priority, and they are being lazy and saying the cancer inoperable because they can't be bothered. Sorry, perhaps I am just paranoid. 

I just read your biog, I am so sorry that you have been through so much. Wishing you lots of love, courage and luck with your ongoing treatment. 

Thank you again x

I would hope very much that these things have not happened due to Mum's age - 66 is reletavily young nowadays. Sometimes it just seems that some hospitals are much more efficient than others as in all 'businesses' - good staff, funding, etc etc.   I hope your GP is a good one and can help you sort out Mums ongoing treatment.  Its all a scary time when you are heading into the unknown and please remember the nurses here who are very supportive and the bearers of lots of useful information.  Take care of yourself too!  Let us know how you get on. xxxx

Hi,

Your Mum's age will have no bearing at all on the treatment she will receive, as Max said 66 is relatively young. The NHS is under a lot of stress at the moment due to a combination of under-funding and a massive rise in demand particularly for cancer services. This means that the time from referral to treatment is often taking longer than it should. 

If you're not happy with your Mum's treatment then you should go for a second opinion. Your GP should be able to help you with this. I'd suggest that you ask for a second report against her scans as interpreting scans is not an exact science and a different radiologist might come to slightly different conclusions.

Good luck!
Dave

Hi

I'm just in the process of getting second opinions now - you can have as many as you want - my consultat did it for me but I went in with the hospitals I wanted them to be sent to in some cases with the top consultants name to hand.  It seems to have worked and now I'm bugging the secretary in each hospital.  I also requested all my notes so that I can have hard copies to take privately if needed.  (cost £10) but should take a week. Will let you know how I get on.

Hi Tinkerbel... sorry I have just seen your reply to me - yes please keep me posted and good luck!

Thanks for your reassurance Davek 

Well had first Second opinion yesterday at Addenbrooke's which was a waste of time in for 15 minutes did not see the consultant expected and wasn't told until we walked into the consultation room.  She hadn't done any reading and was just reading the letter from my current oncologist!  

Thursday seeing Guy's consultant Andy Gaya privately and Thursday Royal M as NHS patient Dr Chau - supposed to be top in field.  I have to say I did a lot of badgering phone calls to secretaries of the Doctors my hospitals medical secretary was fantastic and got all paperwork sent to different places.  I now have all mmy scans on disk from both hospitals and my notes including histology.  Also borrowed a dictaphone to use in consultations.  Tried this out yesterday and it was very good.  Fingers crossed end of week will have more answers.  When I rang Royal M the secretary said at first we don't do second opinions but she said I will put it on the Professors desk which she did and he accepted it.  So secretaries very useful people.