"Nobody had ever told me"

I went to the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh to have my left lung removed because I had lung cancer. In my appointment before the surgery with consultant, they explained to me that they would bring me in and remove my left lung, and I said well what about the other, because there was some cancer in my right lung as well. They said that they would deal with that lung after the surgery with either chemo or radiotherapy.

I had the surgery last year. After the surgery, they never explained anything to me about what they’d done.

I had a follow up appointment booked for two months after the surgery but I couldn’t attend because I didn’t feel well enough to get to hospital. I had to wait another two months for the follow up appointment, so 4 months in total.

When I went to the appointment there were two chaps in the room, I wasn’t sure who they were, I asked what happens now and they went in the corridor to ask the consultant. They didn’t really explain anything to me.

I went away and then an appointment came through to see a doctor at Victoria Hospital in kirkcaldy. The doctor was sat talking away in the appointment, and my daughter in law who was with me said does that mean she doesn’t have cancer anymore? It turns out, that while I had been waiting for months to find out when I am having chemotherapy, I don’t need it at all because they removed all the cancer, during the surgery not only did they remove my left lung but removed part of my right lung too, but somehow nobody had ever told me.

So there has been a big communication problem here.

I still don’t feel well following the surgery and so have been going to my G. P.