Left in limbo after diagnosis

Thank you all for your comments and helpful advice. I'm still waiting to see a surgeon. The 'not knowing how bad my breast cancer is'  is the worst part. My GP says that due to all the public holidays this time of year, things will take even longer than usual 😟. 

This is true @Yango, the medical staffing all went to hell in a handbasket over the Christmas / New Year period following my diagnosis too. Hang in there, and in the meantime, try to keep yourself distracted, which we all know is almost impossible, but try all the same. Also remember to visit this group whenever you feel like, we have your back here...Ally.

Morning @Yango. I am at the same position as you are. Let's hope nothing bad happens during waiting. I'd rather focusing on my diet and lifestyle now. The tough journey will begin anyway. So I decided to enjoy my normal life(?)as much as I can.I try to excercise and get sunshine everyday. Also,I changed my diet to lots of vegi with balanced nutrtion. I consider it as part of my treatment. Let's put it this way, we already started our treatment by changing something,like diet, quality spleep,exercise and mind control. For example,hair and nail are the fastest growing parts of our body. I dont think tumor will grow in the same speed of those. Fingers cross!!So hope we will be ok. I am also worried too much.But it does not help anything. Hope you feel less worried now. 

Hi @Yango - sorry to see you've joined the club - but ask any question of us & we'll give you honest & helpful answers as we've all 'been there'.

The shock & stress of being diagnosed is not a good experience - and the waiting for the appointments etc is the pits - so please make sure you have someone with you at your appointments as a 2nd set of ears.  Being in shock - you don't always 'take in' everything that is said at the time. I recorded my appointments so I could go back over it afterwards, too.

Even if you have private health insurance, there can be big $ gaps over time .... ask the surgeon about his fees -  he may be able to treat you as a public patient & not have the added expense of going private.  I had surgery private & am about $6000 out of pocket, yet for my radiation I went 'public' & it cost nothing.   I live in a rural town, so had to go to a major town for the surgery & radiation - and the hospital had a hostel in the grounds, where I stayed for very low cost for the 4 weeks for my daily radiation.  It was almost a holiday, as the radiation didn't affect me too much at all (other than some emotional blips!)  I completed my radiation this time last year.

Where abouts are you roughly (city/town) as we have members in most areas who may be able to put you onto services available near you - or even catch up for a chat if you like.  @marcel - you too - if you put your 'city/town' in your profile, others may be able to be more specific re what's available near you.

Once you have your surgery & pathology & have a plan - it will all slot into place.  It is just this 'no man's land' right now that is so painfully annoying & frustrating!  grrr  

take care xxx

Thanks you all  for your advice and reassuring words. Has anyone who has gone through the public system able to give me a timeline of how long things take to happen? I know each hospital will be different, but my GP hasn't been able to tell me if waiting to see the surgeon is a two day wait or a two month wait. I really don't know what to expect at all and it's making me anxious. 

Hi @Yango Welcome to somewhere you don't want to be !!
My timeline in the public system was -Mammogram 22/3, biopsy 23/3 , results (shit) 26/3,next apt at Breast Clinic 4/4 where I saw the surgeon , the medical oncologist & the radiation oncologist , lumpectomy operation on 26/4.
The waiting is the worst ,but you will get there. As far as i'm aware the govt guidelines aims surgery to take place within 30 days of diagnosis. Good luck you will get there x

Hi there @Yango. I was treated at a major teaching hospital in Sydney as a public patient. I was actually in hospital for another condition and a CT scan (body) was done for that. That was when the BC was found. Within a fortnight I'd had the biopsies, mammograms, ultrasound, another CT.(full body and also bone scan. I then saw the Oncologist and breast surgeon and my situation was discussed with a multidisciplinary team and the plan of action drawn up. I had chemo first, followed by the bilateral mastectomy and the chemo started before that two weeks was up. I also had a port put in on the morning of my first chemo. Then Christmas came around, between the first stage of chemo and the second stage, and all the medical staff seemed to be on holiday. I was hoping that someone mentioned to the cancer that it was Christmas, so please don't keep growing, as that would not be cricket. I think that once this Easter business is done and dusted, people will soon be back in the saddle, and then things will move quickly. I was assured by my other treating doctors that the delay between stage one and two would make no difference. Months...yes...but days or weeks...no. Hang in there...Ally.

Hi @Yango  I went public the whole way and never had a problem.  Same surgeon for each surgery, same BC nurse and great Oncologist.  Once I had the biopsy, mammogram and U/S ( same day ) it was a month before I saw the surgeon and he had all the results then needed to go ahead with surgery. Things then moved quite fast from then on. It was 2 weeks until surgery.  They then had to widen safety margins so a further surgery 3 weeks after that.( had to heal first from first surgery ) Once results came back from pathology of that surgery then changed things for me. I then had an MRI , bone scan, cat scan then chemo and then back to surgery after all of that for MX.  I can honestly say waiting to see surgeon is one of the hardest parts but once you see him or her then things will progress quickly for you.  I know it's crazy but once a plan is sorted for you it comes as a relief as you can just concentrate on what you have to get through.  I can imagine you must be really anxious the waiting truly sucks but deep breath and you will have it sorted soon enough. Let us know how you go, we are all here for you.  big hugs   xo

Thanks all. It's been very useful and reassuring knowing the public system timeline. It does sound like a much slower process than I was expecting. I just thought that once you were diagnosed with cancer, the next day you would be whisked off for treatment! The waiting part and not knowing anything other than I have cancer is very hard as I have googled to much and now think the worst. Every little twinge in my arm or leg and I think the cancer is there too. Any advice on not over thinking things?

It's hard. Not surprisingly, your diagnosis tends to crowd other things from your mind. Give up googling as a start though! As you have discovered, it rarely does much more than fuel your imagination. Keeping busy at something (work, gardening, clearing cupboards, a hobby) can help. I found that remembering that stress helps absolutely nothing made it slightly easier not to go there. I'm not a very patient person but patience is a virtue in this game - there's a lot of waiting, a lot of sucking and seeing, a lot of uncertainties. Patience and calm are to things to try for - we all mostly fail, at least we can't do them all the time, but it's still worth the practice. Keep your eye on the end game (cancer free) rather than on the process. Best wishes.