medical question

good morning all and i hope you are all well

i was just wondering if anyone could bring some light to a question i have ?

i have searched the net but can't find the answer so here goes

last night my husbands dad rang to tell him his mother has lung cancer which was very upsetting now this bit has baffeled me !

the doctor actually called at there house yesterday to give her this information as she had a scan for a bad neck over 5 months back and it showed shadows on the chest,

they have been trying to ring over the 5 months but with her been hard of hearing they have never managed to get through so with that the doctor came across the file and was horrified and went straight up,

now my question is can a doctor know that it is cancer just from a scan ?

and why a letter was'nt sent out within these 5 months ?

and is it normal for a doctor to come to your house and tell you this ?

the reason a am a little confused is my father in law has a habit of making a mountain out of a mole hill and a few yrs back he told us he had parkingsons (can't spell that sorry) only to find out that this was not true to which he blamed the doctors for a false diagnoses

but again upset the family so in a nut shell he cries wolf alot !

if this is'nt true this could break the family up but i find it all so strange !

many thanks for reading
lisa

 

There are several tests that can be done to diagnose lung cancer and these include:

Bronchoscopy - a thin flexible tube is passed gently through your nose or mouth and into the lung airways. Photographs and cell samples are then taken.
Mediastinoscopy - a small cut is made through the skin at the base of the neck under general anaesthetic. A tube is then passed into the chest, allowing the doctor to examine the area at the centre of the chest and local lymph nodes.
Lung biopsy - a needle is passed through the skin into the lung and a sample of cells is taken for examination.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/cancer/typescancer_lung.shtml#diagnosis

As far as I know the scan/xray can only lead to suspicion and further tests need to be done before confirmed diagnosis. There are other causes of shadows on the lung. The doctor may well have mentioned the word cnacer though and it is difficult to hear anything else when you have heard that word - especially for older people for whom cancer was ALWAYS a death sentence.

It isn't usual for a doctor to come out for that reason but in the circumstances, if other attempts to contact have failed, I would think a decent doctor would do that. I suspect that a letter has been sent as well - maybe it went missing or maybe the wording misunderstood.

 

Hec---gave the same suggestions I would have. And the last sentence is good. I just wondered why they did not get other phone numbers of family on the initial records for contact.

 

thanks for your replys

well as far as i know she has only had a scan and nothing else and the doctor did'nt mention anything else and just said she had cancer and they need to scan again to see if its also in the stomach area,

she will be going to the doctors on monday morning and then he will be sending her straight up the hospital ,

i just find it all strange as if he has said its cancer and its not he's in big trouble i would say.

maybe a letter did arrive but they are quite sure they never recieved one my father in law is on about taking it further with the doctors as they have known since march !

sadly she also shows signs of lung cancer weight loss & pain in the back which she has had for a while now which is what my nan had and died of but she did actually gain weight which i think was through the drugs .

we will know more on monday i just found it strange for a doctor to come up and blurt that out when she has only had a scan !

again thanks for your replies

 

They cannot do that because of patient/client confidentiality.

 

My Mom had lung cancer that killed her.
She had X-rays scans and they did not no for definite until they operated to do a minor thing to help her breathing.
They found the tumour it haemorrhaged and she had to had a major op there and then.
The surgeon phoned me , being her next of kin after my Dad when he came out of surgery to explain what happened..
She died a few days later.
Before hand she had a cough and was coughing up blood.
She had emphorsima sp? for years.
She had been a smoker from the age of 14.

 

Hi Lyn,

Mine too-at age 46. Time from diagnosis to death-3 days. Thats the thing with lung cancer, her doctors called it the silent killer. There is very rarely any fanfare, any time to prepare and even rarer any victims still alive after 6 months. It`s a dreadful way to die. It`s unspeakably horrendous to witness happen to someone you adore.

 

Sorry to here about your Mom she was so young.
My Mom was 75.
She was out shopping on the Tuesday had the op Wednesday and died Friday.
The funeral was 23rd December ,what a Christmas that was.
Such a shock.
We all had presents wrapped for her.
It was surreal.
I know a few people who have died with lung cancer and none of them lasted long after the diagnosis.
Normally about 3 months.
Very scary