Waiting time for therapy
Hi..4 weeks since surgery, what is average wait to start chemotherapy/radiotherapy please?? Feel scared just sitting here, hope its not getting worse.. Live in a regional town, so even results took a ...
Forum Discussion
The waiting is such a pain in the proverbial @Joarden ..... They actually lost my referral somehow when trying to organise my Rads & I was getting not only frustrated, but also very angry and even more upset. All the surgeon's office had to do was email/fax it ..... I was also told they were really busy too - and that they were doing people on a 'as needs it more urgently' basis - and that mine wasn't urgent.
As @Afraser said - the culprit is no longer there - it has been removed, so it is unlikely to be spreading - and you need to totally heal before they can start doing the Rads. My surgery was in mid January 2 years ago & my 4 weeks of Rads only finished the day before Good Friday - so my Rads start date was about 6 weeks after surgery. They said I could actually wait until after my holiday to Norfolk Island - but I wanted it done & dusted BEFORE then - cos that was my reward for going thru all this crap!!
So try not to get too upset about the wait ..... try & keep busy - both mentally & physically and just keep your phone handy for the call!
Where abouts are you? If you put your town/city in your profile, other members may be able to point you towards specific services available to you in your area. I am rural too. I was able to 'live in' on the hospital grounds at very reasonable cost instead of driving back & forth every day - a 3hr+ round journey. I see my surgeon in Sydney on Monday for my 2 year check.
Being rural, if you have to travel for your treatments & appointments - did you know that you can claim petrol money (and some accommodation) if you have to travel more than 200k in a week (NSW) or if each part of the trip is 50k or more (Qld) - not sure about other states. It is the Isolated Patients Travel Assistance Scheme. If you put that into Google, it will bring up most states info.
Take care xxxx
As @Afraser said - the culprit is no longer there - it has been removed, so it is unlikely to be spreading - and you need to totally heal before they can start doing the Rads. My surgery was in mid January 2 years ago & my 4 weeks of Rads only finished the day before Good Friday - so my Rads start date was about 6 weeks after surgery. They said I could actually wait until after my holiday to Norfolk Island - but I wanted it done & dusted BEFORE then - cos that was my reward for going thru all this crap!!
So try not to get too upset about the wait ..... try & keep busy - both mentally & physically and just keep your phone handy for the call!
Where abouts are you? If you put your town/city in your profile, other members may be able to point you towards specific services available to you in your area. I am rural too. I was able to 'live in' on the hospital grounds at very reasonable cost instead of driving back & forth every day - a 3hr+ round journey. I see my surgeon in Sydney on Monday for my 2 year check.
Being rural, if you have to travel for your treatments & appointments - did you know that you can claim petrol money (and some accommodation) if you have to travel more than 200k in a week (NSW) or if each part of the trip is 50k or more (Qld) - not sure about other states. It is the Isolated Patients Travel Assistance Scheme. If you put that into Google, it will bring up most states info.
Take care xxxx