Ukkram

I have to vent my anger and frustration. My wife had difficulty in walking so we went to the Hospital Particular for diagnosis.

The neurologist had a look at her throat and said 3 times "what is that". This was 4 months ago. She never said anything more about it and only scheduled her for another appointment 4 months down.

I eventually had a look in her throat and saw a strange growth so made an appointment with the ENT.

We were referred back to the Neurologist who insisted she keep appointments with her but I insisted that she see an ENT.

After some back and forth banter she complied and we went to see the ENT.

He took a biopsy and it was confirmed as cancer. My world has come to an end and if only that Neurologist had seen that 4 months ago that she did, my wife would have had a chance of beating it.

I am devastated as are our kids.

macliam

Having spent the day with my own wife being poked and prodded to identify the cause of some neural pain that has made her life a misery since Christmas, I empathise. But really I have no words to express my sympathy for you both.

Doctors are like mechanics without a handbook. Often they make some lucky guesses, but sometimes not. It does seem odd that your neurologist didn't suspect anything....

I wish you both the best of luck for the future - and I wish you, in particular, all the strength you will need to support your wife through her battle.

BEVS

Absolutely shocking dreadful news . My husband's cousin is currently battling cancer in her mouth. It was found from a routine dentist appointment.

You have a great big hug from me. What rotten luck .

I hope that treatment is put in place for your wife immediately and I wish you strength for the tough and scary days ahead.

You need to offload , BE is always here .

carvoeiro

my friend i am very sorry to hear your news
i will quickly tell our story
my wife was diagnosed with a nhl blood cancer 16 years ago in a truly terrible victorian nhs hospital in the uk - then told she didnt have it - then told chemotherapy was urgent - then told she had to have a ct scan to stage the cancer - assess the severity - then told she had to wait 6months + for the scan - then told she had less than two years to live
we saw 5 nhs doctors in 6 months - all told a different story - finally we found a specialist who understood the rare illness- she said no treatment necessary at that time and agreed the nhs was a shambles and recommended we live somewhere with lots of sunshine for my wifes health - she is now many years on the nhs leading specialist on this rare form of cancer and gives lectures around the world
the last 18 months have been the worst of our lives - two failed series of chemotherapy treatments - followed by a new treatment that worked well but sadly led to 4 weeks in intensive care with pneumonia - she is now well and the treatment is being continued
Horrific - but the point is 16 years on after an horrific start she is still alive
its important now for you to be as positive as you can go to a good oncologist find out the stage of your wifes cancer and understand that most cancers now have good treatment possibilities and good long term survival rates - they will only ever say 5 years plus - but for young and otherwise healthy people this can often mean a normal lifespan
The other important thing you can do is research - knowledge is key - we found the last treatment my wife is now being given on line via the teaching hospitals websites around the world = without this information its possible my wifes doctor might not have switched to it after the other treatments failed
There are organisations in portugal that will help and if you want to ask me any personal questions feel free to pm
i wish you all the best of luck

mfesharne

Sorry to hear your bad news & I like everyone else will keep you both in our thoughts & keep our fingers crossed for the two of you.

Ukkram

Thanks for all the heads up. We are off to Porto in the morning to go to the Oncology Hospital. The MRI scan showed that it has not spread and is localized to her throat thankfully.

If it spreads outside of the esophagus it is goodbye. Hold thumbs as the MRI scan is not a conclusive study.

Jerseygirl

Ukkram...I am very sorry to read about your wife's diagnosis. Extremely good news that the cancer seems to be localized. I wish you both all the best. Please keep us updated with her recovery.

macliam

Good luck. My sister has beaten the b**ch twice (uterine and colon) over 30 years for the first and 10 for the last - so it can be done.

I hope the news is good and there is a better prognosis than you fear.

MikeJ

Hope your visit to the oncologist brings better news - it's mainly fear of the unknown which is the worst. I was diagnosed with terminal cancer and give 9 months 5 years ago and I'm still here. My sister-in-law was diagnosed with a rare throat cancer and after radical surgery she is still here after 38 years. There's always hope. My thoughts are with you.

carvoeiro

hi
good news it probably means that the cancer is at stage 1 or two at worst - this means that it should be very treatable

regarding your spreading comment - the concern is that the cancer spreads into the lymphatic system of the body - this a system that runs in parallel with your blood system consisting of miles of tubes hundreds of small lymph glands and also your liver kidneys gall bladder etc
the basic function is to clean your body - to have the cancer spread into this system is not good but very rarely fatal - unless it seriously effects the major organs is very easily treatable -often with localised tumours the nearby lymph glands are also treated alongside the treatment for the throat cancer as a precautionary measure
best of luck

gedscottish

Terrible news and terrible treatment by original doctor(you have to make an official complaint there), she will see the oncologist at the IPO-Porto?

liveaboard

Did you start with a GP, or go directly to the neurologist?
We also had a poor impression of a neurologist there. He did the tests requested and nothing more.
But then, that was what he'd been asked to do by the attending doctor.

In any case, I'm very sorry to read your distressing news. Cancer treatment has come a long way in the last decade; I hope they have an effective treatment for her.

Hang in there.

Ukkram

Late reply but just got back home. They would not treat her without a national health care card as it is a gov hospital. No private health insurance is accepted at all. Full stop. Nada Nix.
The Porto Gov hospital is the only hospital in the north that has an oncology dept.
A very large and larney one it is and very clean and busy.

We were sent back home to get a local health care card and got it!!!! This was denied to us 2 years ago.

I strongly suggest all expats to get it now even if you have a private medical insurance.

GeniB

I am so sorry about this Ukkram .It really is a maze when you wander into the medical world. One of the first things to understand is that Doctors and specialists more often than not do not consult with each other. They surmise that the problem they see before them ..if it is not in their field.. has been covered by another specialist..

I lost a very dear friend because of this sort of misunderstanding. and she was married to the heart surgeon in the hospital that failed to identify her cancer soon enough.!!! ..Only because a neurologist had seen it and then just assumed the heart surgeon had as well.Almost two yrs went by with her being told she was 'imagining things' ( a typical response for women.) Sadly for her she had a very rare cancer lodged behind her heart muscle...ironic ...

The neurologist repeatedly saying 'what is that' ?would have had me asking what she mean't...and if she couldn't answer .. where should you go for answers. However it's not to say it would have made any difference .I am so very sorry for you and your wife in this difficult time

Ukkram

We got the results of her scan back and it "seems" to be localized and not spread outside of the soft palate. The size of the tumour is 13 mm x 12 mm and that is stage 1 cancer. Stage 2 is larger than 20 mm. Stage 1 and 2 has almost 100% cure rate. Stage 3 has a 50% cure rate. So far so good. Back to Porto on Monday.