Phone calls in Scandinavia

 In the week after hearing the news that I had bowel cancer while in Copenhagen, and before I was back in the UK, there were phone calls…

Telling the family

The first, and most difficult, was the group Whatsapp call on 20 May when I had to break it to my grown up kids.  I was dreading it.  In the event, there was no way of breaking it gently, so I just told them what had happened.  I think they must both have had some inkling about what was coming. Why else would your mum schedule a WhatsApp group call (something she’d never done before) in the middle of a trip abroad?  They were asking the questions I should have asked but was too knocked back to even think of at the time I took the call…I couldn’t answer them, but promised to let them know as soon as I had any more news.  

Call from the cancer nurse

The next call was from one of the cancer nurses on 23 May, making first contact.  I was asked whether I had taken on board and understood what the colonoscopy doctor had told me.  I more or less repeated the discussion and he seemed satisfied that I’d got hold of the right end of the stick. Although he would be on leave when I returned to the UK, everything would carry on in his absence, as discussed before.  The scan would happen the week following my return and my case would be discussed by the MDT the Monday after that.  He said that would be 12 June (which, when thinking about it afterwards seemed strange as if I had a scan the week of the Bank Holiday, the first Monday after that would be 5 June).  Whatever…one of the cancer nurses would call me to let me know the outcome of the MDT discussion.  If only surgery required, they aimed to do that within 62 days - but it could be longer if chemo needed beforehand. 

The 62 day (and 31 day) time frame for treatment

I’ve since found out that he was wrong on the 62 day thing. It’s 62 days from the urgent referral to start of treatment (in my case, 62 days from 30 March i.e. 31 May - now long since gone) or 31 days from the decision to treat and start of treatment.  If the MDT agree a treatment plan on 12 June, I should start treatment by 13 July.  

It worries me that the cancer specialist nurse does not know the timescales they are supposed to be working to!! 

Where to be treated

A couple of days later (25 May), standing in the middle of a public building in Oslo, camera in one hand and phone in the other, there’s another call which is bizarre to say the least. The chap on the other end tells me my referral has changed from colorectal to gastroenterology and asks where do I want to be treated? 

We have a strange going round and round in circles conversation, with me telling him I’ve been diagnosed with bowel cancer and am already in touch with the team at my local hospital in Oxford, and him asking me again where I want to be treated.  I keep telling him that what he’s saying does not make sense in the context of a cancer referral which is already going through the MDT/treatment process at my local hospital, and him repeatedly asking the same question.  

In the end, to shut him up and move on, I ask him what are my options.  He replies, in theory, I can be treated anywhere, but for all practical purposes, it’s the hospital in Oxford that I’m already involved with or another some distance away in Banbury.  I tell him that as I live in Oxford and don’t have a car, I’ll be treated at my local hospital in Oxford.  Only then does he say there’s a long waiting list and I won’t get an appointment until August.  Next year!  

I repeat that what he’s just told me doesn’t make sense in the context of a cancer diagnosis, but that I’ll take it up with my GP when I’m back home.  

Bemused, frustrated, concerned and puzzled, I try to put it out of my mind and go off to enjoy the afternoon with friends I’m meeting up with for the afternoon.  Much more fun!