Another letter arrives, this time from North Manchester hospital, telling me the MRI result. I now have a better picture of the timeline from when the scan was done until the results have been agreed on by all interested parties.
Scan: 20th April
Scan checked & report made: 24th April
Report checked and letter written to me: 4th May
(so that part went swimmingly. Unfortunately where it then went awry is that the letter with results went to my GP who filed it away without comment. Copies should have come to me, and presumably to North Manchester and the surgeon which would trigger a discussion at the next weekly MDT meeting.... but they didnt)
14th May: I start the search to find who has the results of the MRI
15th May: MRI report faxed from Macclesfield to North Manchester at my request
18th May: I track down the 4th May letter at the GP - 14 days after I should have received it.
21st May: I get a copy of the original MRI report that has been doing the rounds since 24th April.
30th May: North Manchester include me in a weekly Wednesday MDT meeting, and the surgeon gets the chance to look by video link at the scans.
30th May: letter from surgeon typed to me with results of that MDT meeting (so it took 40 days from the date of the scan for the surgeon to see a copy via video link)
8th June: letter arrives with me.
28th: I will get to discuss this with O'Blimey the surgeon
29th June: I will get to discuss this with Dr S, who had the results back in April!
My next 6 month scan will be due end of October. Now I know to allow about 6 weeks from start to finish of the process, which in reality could be done in about 2 weeks.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS - a diagnosis and treatment of Hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer) diagnosed August 2010, presumed caused by 30+ years of chronic hepatitis B. And a search for how to be healthy living with cirrhosis presumed caused by Autoimmune hepatitis (diagnosed April 2011)
Wowzers - that's a process! So much easier if they would have directly sent you the results. Whenever I get scans done, it does take some hunting to retrieve all the results. There's a basement corridor in the cancer centre, and I need to navigate some mazes before finding the right office. It almost feels like a quest.
ReplyDeleteHopefully your future scans be delivered more directly. (Can you express that need before actually getting the scan done, I wonder?)
Fiona,
ReplyDeleteWow... Somehow I don't know that any of these results would have happened if you hadn't been stirring the pot. It is a little scary that things are being filed away before the doctors see the results or forward them to the necessary people! That could be a big black hole. Good luck in October.
Carla