Decisions About Your Cancer Diagnoses / Standing Up To The Pressure

So you have been diagnosed with cancer, the dreaded C-Word and you never saw it coming, maybe uncle Joe but not you. You are young, You are doing everything right how can this be? All of the sudden FEAR takes over and your mind is fogged with confusion. Everyone around you is telling you… “You are going to be OK” but you must start treatment right away, no time to waste. You look into your doctor’s eyes and desperately seek HOPE, yes you want to believe everything is going to turn out well. Yet he can’t really tell you that but he can only share his knowledge about your cancer, stats and his experience. All of the sudden your world dramatically changes and you just really really HOPE it is just a nightmare from where you will wake up soon.

So you go home and it takes a few days for this new reality to kick in and everyone around you continues to tell you everything is going to be fine but you must submit to the recommended treatment options right away. It is CANCER and it can kill you. But you know better, you know what has happened to your cousin and your friend with cancer after their surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Your inner voice tells you NO.. You can not do this but yet EVERYONE around is telling otherwise. What do you do? Who do you listen to?

I can tell you I understand. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer 2 1/2 years ago and I was terrified. I had been told what my options were and more less what to expect but yet no one could guarantee that cancer would not come back after treatment or explain why I had it to begin with. However, everyone around pressured me to make quick decisions about surgery dates and so on. I remember even the surgeon called a couple of times to make sure to get me in the calendar. Family members, of course, were really concerned as to why I wasn’t making a decision already. I knew my family and friends’ concerns came from a good place but I just couldn’t follow through with those options that were offered to me.

After much prayer and meditation, I chose to follow an alternative approach to healing and I embarked on a journey where Cancer had given me an opportunity to live again. I can not say I am completely cancer free just yet but I am definitely in a better place compared to how I was. I started a blog to share my story (look into my profile for link) my desire is that it will bring HOPE and ENCOURAGEMENT to many people like you and me.

Please know that cancer did not grow over night and it is ok to take a bit of time to make decisions you are comfortable in following for your healing. I really encourage you to pray meditate and follow what you believe is Best for you despite what others say. Listen to your body, listen to your inner voice, healing begins within you.

Blessings

Karen Berrios

Blogger

http://www.karenberrios.com

Decisions About Your Cancer Diagnoses / Standing Up To The Pressure

Lack of NHS radiologists "could cause delays to breast cancer diagnoses"

Women may suffer a delay in finding out that they have breast cancer because the NHS is struggling with a serious and worsening lack of radiologists and radiographers, according to health experts.

There are fears that the NHS’s breast cancer screening programme will not be able to cope with the growing numbers of women who will require mammograms in coming years when the age of eligibility is extended from 50-70 to 43-73.

Two reports reveal how hospitals are facing a chronic shortage of specialists to both carry out and analyse mammograms to see whether women have breast cancer.

The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) said there was a “looming workforce crisis facing breast cancer screening and diagnostic services” in the NHS. Difficulty getting enough staff could have a severe impact, it said.

Staff shortages are so common that almost one in 10 (8%) consultant posts in NHS breast radiology services are unfilled and a quarter of breast cancer screening programme units operate with just two or one breast radiologists, according to RCR surveys.

“The skill of breast radiologists in interpreting mammograms and other complex scans is vital to the early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer, as well as in the delivery of cancer screening programmes. Without more breast radiologists to tackle this increasing demand we cannot hope to achieve the best possible health outcomes for patients,” said Dr Hilary Dobson, the chair of the British Society of Breast Radiology.

A separate report, by the breast cancer screening programme itself, found that15% of posts among radiographers in England who carry out mammograms were unfilled and that 65% of screening units had vacancies for such staff. The NHS needed another 70 whole-time-equivalent radiographers specialising in mammography on top of its existing 615, it said.

Almost one in 10 consultant posts in NHS breast radiology services is unfilled. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

“These findings suggest that in the future these staff shortages could risk more women experiencing a delayed diagnosis,” said Danni Manzi, the head of policy and campaigns at Breast Cancer Care. “Any delay in diagnosing breast cancer could affect how successful treatment is because the sooner treatment starts, the more effective it’s likely to be. It’s vital any wait is kept to a minimum.”

About 2.1 million women a year in England go for breast cancer screening. That number is due to rise in the next few years as there will be 8% more women aged 50 to 70. A planned extension of the age limits to 47 to 73 could see the number of women across the UK covered by the early detection scheme rise by 28% from 8 million to 10.2 million.

The RCR claimed the NHS had too few clinical oncologists who delivered both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Six of the 21 vacant consultant posts in the specialism had been unfilled for at least a year and one in five clinical oncologists were due to retire by 2021, it found.

“The clinical workforce is growing but not quickly enough and the trends identified by our census reveal an oncology service moving steadily towards crisis,” said Dr David Bloomfield, the RCR’s medical director for professional practice.

Delyth Morgan, the chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said: “These findings are of tremendous concern. This workforce is the backbone of the screening programme and is critical to our ability to diagnose and treat women with breast cancer in England, and must now be urgently reinforced.

“If we are to ensure the success of the screening programme and that all patients with symptoms of breast cancer have access to the timely investigation they need, this crucial workforce must be properly resourced and sufficiently supported.”

Lady Morgan urged Health Education England, the NHS’s medical recruitment and training arm, to come up with an urgent plan to increase the supply of key staff in NHS cancer services.

The Department of Health said it was working hard to ensure NHS cancer services had enough staff. “We’re helping the NHS manage increased demand in cancer services by making staffing a priority, with 20% more clinical radiologists since 2010,” a spokesman said.

The NHS in England had 20% more clinical radiologists, including 20% more consultants, and almost 10% more doctors in training, than in May 2010, he said.

Lack of NHS radiologists "could cause delays to breast cancer diagnoses"