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Hi Can anyone advise us? I am only back in Ireland for 3 years from the UK, and don't understand the complexities of the health service, referrals etc but as a family we are at our limit in terms of disatisfaction. My Dad has small cell lung cancer being "maintained" by tarceva. He is being treated at a Regional Hospital but I live in Dublin. We have had several minor concerns throughout the last 18 months regarding aspects of his treatment, like cancelled appointments or him going to appts, very sick from chemo & having to wait up to 3 hours to see who he was supposed to see. He is now very depressed, crying a lot, wont eat/wash, very very weak, wheezing after walking 10-15 feet. I have got him admitted twice in the past 2 months (through fighting to get him a bed) but each time I go back to work he is invariably discharged. They say he is physically ok but I can clearly see he isn't. W have tried 4 times to get an appt with his consultant to talk to them but cant get past the secretary. We now want him to get treated in Dublin. Whats the process we have to go through? He is a private patient. Please understand we know he is terminally ill, its not a denial thing, but he is being treated with such contempt currently & we want him to be treated with the respect he deserves & have his last few months be as peaceful & stress free as possible. As an example I contactedthem last tuesday( and every day since) to beg to see someone as he was refusing to eat, couldn't walk and was in great distress & they have yet to get him an appointment. Any advice gratefully recieved. Orla

hi i have just been told i have prostate cancer gleesen score 4+4 =8 psa reading of 8.4 told not a good one fro surgery ?? i am 55 healty as a goat not to happy with way i was told quick and to point waiting now fro ct scans and mri how can i be told i cant have op if i am not staged yet or graded which ever one comes with scans my head in up in a heap and the family as well

Hi ladies, I was wondering if any of ye had a child after chemo, i am 35 with no children and already had major fertility problems before chemo, we were due to do an ivf cycle using donor eggs this summer but i was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in April, had modified radical mastecmectomy in May and doing the third round of TC chemo at the moment, only 4 rounds to do and then six weeks or 30 goes of radiation starting in September, also on a clinical trail for triple negative for 12 mths. mine was 8cm, grade 3 that grew along the chest wall, no niple involvement, nodes thought to be positive from scans but unbelivably came back negative on histology report after operation. so i was a bit shy about asking the onocologist about getting pregnant after i finish my treatment as the breast suregeon had ruled it out beleiving that it was strongly hromone receptive given my hormone levels when i was diagnosed and especially when i would have to use fertility drugs to sync cycles and support pregnancy. please if anyone has any experience of this i would be grateful, we were 15 months waiting for information evening on adoption to discover we have to wait for five years clear before we can even apply, then it would take 4 years and at least and sorry after trying for three years i know 9 years more would be impossible. take care.

Hi siobhan here, i am 35 years old. was dianosed with breast cancer two years ago.. had full mastectomy , 6 mth chemo, 6wk radio therapy. on tamoxifin for 5 yr. and currently on herceptin which is on going as i found out 6 mth ago, cancer is now spread to my hip bone. had radio therapy to area for pain. did not work.. but going to try it again. on morphine for pain at moment. not great. not on bone drug yet, with will be eventually.. i am young mother of one little girl she is 7 yr old. I worry for her so much.. want so much to see her grow up.. is there any body out there in simular situation.. need to hear some good news for a change.. siobhanc

Hi siobhan here, i am 35 years old. was dianosed with breast cancer two years ago.. had full mastectomy , 6 mth chemo, 6wk radio therapy. on tamoxifin for 5 yr. and currently on herceptin which is on going as i found out 6 mth ago, cancer is now spread to my hip bone. had radio therapy to area for pain. did not work.. but going to try it again. on morphine for pain at moment. not great. not on bone drug yet, with will be eventually.. i am young mother of one little girl she is 7 yr old. I worry for her so much.. want so much to see her grow up.. is there any body out there in simular situation.. need to hear some good news for a change.. siobhanc

Hi. I've just started radiotherapy for mouth cancer and would like to hear from anybody who might tell me about their experiences. Don

I have posted on this site before i have found response very minimal for the amount of cancer suffering support to people very mimiimal maybe people are scared but it is great to share similar experience to know we are not only 1 experiencing this .as i have said before my father has stage 3a cancer luckily he is young 63 very strong tumor and lymph nodes have reduced but his cycle of chemo and radium is very aggressive this time he has had alot of setbacks this time but with his stage of cancer oncologist has told him he is in the long term survival rate of 10 per cent dat do survive in long term thank god. Ihope this helps

My GP found a breast lump during my annual checkup last Thurs We faxed off the referral form to the Mater, was wondering how long they act on making the appointment, the form states for my age that I may be seen within two weeks, but I could not get through to the clinic on Fri and yesterday I talked to a girl that said she would ring back in the afternoon but never did Worried but trying to stay calm Apologises if this is in the wrong area

hi ladies, i have one week down of the two week wait on core biopsy results for a large lump in my left breast, i actually have two lumps, the small one they think is a breast mouse as showed solid on ultrasound and not on mammogram. i have these lumps a while and was at the doctor a few times with them, however i went three weeks ago and the gp was very concerned and sent me for an urgent appointment with the breast clinic, however that weekend which was the week before easter, i had emense pain on the sunday night and could not sleep, i tried cold and hot compresses and local anestihic gel but nothing worked, after lying awake in pain all night i went to see the gp on the monday and she squessed me in between appointments. the pain was like when a wasp stings you and the acid is going in to the skin, but continual, so the gp rang the breast clinic to know could they see me that week or would she send me in through casualty. the registrar said he would fit me in on the thursday afternoon breast clinic and the doc put me on antibiotics, antiinflamotories and painkillers till then as she could not see an infection but was sure one was present. when i seen the registrar on thursday he had a look and said he would have to get the consultant, she is lovely and said i had an abscess the size of an orange that had been festering with a while, so put me on three strong antibiotics and continue the anti imflamotries until first appointment on tuesday as they had to clear the infection to examine the breast properly. i went back on the tuesday and they sent me straight in for an ultrasound and that was inconclusive for both lumps so sent me for a mammogram, i got the results on the thursday from that and the specialist believed that the small lump was a mouse and the large lump was a solid suspicious mass measuring 6cm with uneven edges and califications, drew it out like a childs picture of a cloud, she recommended a ultrasound guided biopsy the following tuesday which was last week. she also said she gave it a rating of 3 although i seen 3/4 written on radioligist report in biro, she also said it had to come out either way as too large to leave it. i tried to get an opinion from the radiologist last week and bascially got nothing, just it may or may not be something and wait for the pathologist report but it has to be removed either way. that was not too bad till i discovered it takes two weeks for the results to come back and they sent me a follow up appointment for next tuesday the day the results are due back. so bascially i am driving myself mad and cant sleep at night for worrying about scenarios. i am 35 and very healthy otherwise, i have a small chest and the lumps are visible through the skin and the large one has a few bits jutting out through the skin, the gp always thought it was a fibrodema or a cyst but obviously her opinion was before it started causing all this trouble. i have no pain in the large lump now since infection cleared except for swelling and bruising from the biopsy. has anyone had a similar experience as i am worried. thanks girls

Hi, I have been put forward for genetic testing as myself and my sister both with breast cancer and aged 38 and 39. My Surgeon has sent a letter to the team in Crumlin but said it could be six months before test and six months wait for results as takes a lot of time to find the rogue genes. I was wondering had anyone had it done recently. I think Flo mentioned she had in an earlier post. I'm trying to find as much info as I can as i know there will prob be decisions re ovaries and other boob! I had left Mastectomy and i'm taking tamoxifin and my sister is having chemo weekly as she has secondary in lung. If anyone has any advice that would be great before I get app for testing. Thanks so much