Yesterday I found out I couldn’t get an appointment to see the ENT consultant until the end of May. My reason for needing one is this growth on my vocal chords. Last time the consultant was concerned it may be malignant and wanted to do surgery and a biopsy right away. It turned out to be benign and everyone was happy. Well, there is no way of knowing the status of this one until it has a biopsy done. Chances are it is benign but no way of knowing.
I spoke to the GP earlier on today and she said that in her opinion it would be benign so there is no hurry for an appointment. I asked her how she could be so sure and she said because it was last time it probably will be this time. I pulled her up on the word ‘probably’ and said that ‘probably’ is not the same as definitely, was she definite it would be benign and she said she couldn’t be because she was only a GP. Her guidelines said that a two week appointment would need me to have a hoarse voice and weight loss. I said that my voice had changed, not sure if hoarse was the right term and I had lost weight but that could be my change in eating habits. She said it doesn’t matter anyway because by the time the symptoms of throat cancer appear it is already too late. So I confirmed with her that rather than catch it at the first signs they prefer to wait until it becomes inoperable? She confirmed this was how the NHS worked now.
Once I got up off the floor I asked her if they had good lawyers because if I found out that any delay had worsened my condition that I would be instructing someone or leaving it in my will to instruct someone to sue the shit out of them. She agreed to speak directly with the consultant and get his opinion. I suspect she will write a letter that he may read some time in the next couple of months … It’s nice to be left worrying like this it really is.