Reflection

Brenda had been through the hardest time of her life, and she spent a lot of time reflecting on the events that led to this point. She was relieved that the surgery was over, that it had gone well, and that radio therapy was completed, but she also felt anger towards the GP that had dismissed her lump in 2014. Brenda put her faith and trust in this health professional, and she dreaded to think of the outcome had it been left any longer. Brenda knew something was wrong the day she felt that lump. After visiting the GP and being told it was nothing to be concerned about, Brenda spent every day trying to convince herself that she was worrying over nothing (despite knowing deep down it wasn’t right) The whole ordeal had a terrible effect on her mental health. Her entire life, she hated the idea of being a burden to anyone. Due to this, she rarely sought medical attention unless her instinct told her it was absolutely required.  Brenda was forever scarred after being turned away from the GP that day, only to find out 2.5 years later that the lump was in fact cancer. At the very least, Brenda deserved an apology for this.

We made contact with the medical centre and lodged a formal complaint. Brenda later received a weak and unsympathetic reply. A short time later, Brendas GP retired.

Brenda subsequently made the decision to seek legal advice. She was failed in 2014, and she felt strongly that changes must be made to procedure for the sake of the lives of women (and men) in the future. She wanted medical professionals to acknowledge the failures and for there to be a learning outcome that would change their approach. If a person presents to a GP with a lump in their breast, this must not be dismissed without a referral for a scan.

The solicitor Brenda went to requested for an independent medical report. This was carried out by a professor at Edinburgh Cancer Research Institute. He stated in the report that at the time Brenda attended the GP in 2014, it would have been impossible for the GP to have physically felt the lump, clearly stating in the report that the lump at the time would have been too small to feel. To the contrary, the GP herself noted that she felt the lump and diagnosed it as stringy muscle. To reiterate, this is the very same lump that was later confirmed to be the cancer. My own views are that the professor has attempted to support and defend his fellow medical colleague, but at the expense of making Brenda out to be a fool.

Brenda continued with her hormone therapy and trying to get back to normality. She also made the decision to change GP practice. On numerous occasions, Brenda had to attend the GP due to suffering with pain in her lower back, hips and pelvis. She found it excruciating and was slowly becoming depressed as a result of the constant paint. She was eventually referred for an x-ray. She received the x-ray results a short time later and was advised that there was wear and tear in all of the areas of her skeleton that she felt pain. Brenda was technically still being treated for breast cancer – she had undergone her lumpectomy months earlier and had only just completed her radiotherapy, as well as still being on hormone therapy. She presented with terrible bone pain that was spreading to different parts of her body, yet no further testing was carried out and she was advised to continue treating the pain with paracetamol. In these medical circumstances, an x ray was not adequate and the symptoms she presented with at that point should never have been diagnosed as simple wear and tear. Her symptoms were classic of secondary breast cancer that had metastasized to the bones.

Brenda and I tried to continue with life as normal as possible and done our best to keep our anxieties at bay. At that time, we were unaware of the frightening statistics relating to the risk of the cancer returning. Almost one third of all primary breast cancer patients end up with metastatic cancer. When we discovered this information, Brenda felt strongly that it should have been mentioned to her – perhaps as a way of raising her own awareness and to enable her to be aware of any possible symptoms.

In Brendas case, her team probably didn’t divulge the stats as they had described her cancer as a small low grade ductal carcinoma. Apparently easily dealt with. They were wrong.

 Brendas bone pain continues for months and months. She endured the pain and continued taking the pain killers as she was advised to do by her GP.