"Mother in Laws Cancer Treatment"

The year before last my mother in law had been to the local GP several times over approximately 12 months to complain about her throat and the problems she was having swallowing. Finally, after a conversation with her family, she went back to the local GP and demanded to see a consultant. After scans the consultant diagnosed my mother in law as having late stage cancer which had spread to the area around the lung.

The treatment she was given at Glangwilli Hospital started with Chemotherapy in a liquid form which was to be delivered by a stent to the area of cancer. She attended the clinic and was given a fluid sack which was attached through the arm to the stent via a valve which was then covered with dressing. Unfortunately the valve was not opened and after three days when she returned to the clinic after the weekend it appears that none or unknown and unmeasured amount of the chemotherapy drug had been administered. It was suggested that my mother in law must have knocked the valve, and she was deemed to be inappropriate for this type of treatment.

The decision was then made to use a tablet form of the chemotherapy, however given she had cancer of the throat this was very difficult and painful to take. My mother in law took the tablets and was sent home with no monitoring. The next day she collapsed due to a reduction in magnesium levels (which we later found out is not an uncommon side effect) and ended up in hospital for an extended period of time. At this point we had a meeting with the local patient liaison representatives from the hospital to question the chain of events and my mother in law’s care by the trust. 

It was then decided to give my mother in law extensive radiotherapy which was delivered over a number of weeks with week long stays in Morriston Hospital over the summer and autumn. Following this therapy she went back for a check up around the Christmas and was informed by letter at the start of last year that the cancer had been stopped.  

However, she was again having problems swallowing and coughing she had an x ray and was given antibiotics for a chest infection at Llandovery Hospital. She continued to feel unwell but went ahead with a holiday to Holland in the April. They day after returning from this holiday she was Blue lighted back into the local hospital, where after spending a day in the decision making unit was transferred to the ICU unit, with fluid on the lungs and significant bacterial infections. 

The scarring in her oseophegus due to the radio therapy was such that it blocked food going down in to the stomach and forced it in to the lungs. The consultant on the ward at Glanwilli indicated to us that the scarring should never have been allowed to get to that point and unfortunately there was nothing  realistically they could do, and the only option to potentially extend her life would leave my mother in law with a very poor quality of life even if it worked. My mother in law did not want to go through with the procedure and as expected did not recover.

We as a family thought long and hard about our options, however my wife having lost her mother unexpectedly and being told she was clear of the cancer, could not bring her self to complain or even in fact get in touch with the patient liaison team at the hospital. We felt that even that if we complained or looked at other options that the system would not change and we not have her mother in law back. 

I personally have thought several times that perhaps not raising a complaint was not the right option as other families may have to experience a similar outcome if things do not change at the trust. 

Many of the people involved with my mother in laws care were wonderful but we feel there were many systemic failures and opportunities missed to secure a different outcome.