"I felt like the nursing staff had really invested in me"

This story is not about me, it is about the healthcare professionals who have been amazing!

Having very recently sold our house, we were living with relatives in the Surrey area and I had a cold that I felt had turned into a chest infection. I had made a decision about 1 year earlier to stop taking any drugs unless absolutely necessary but felt that I needed to clear the chest infection so I registered as a temporary patient with the local GP surgery who gave me an appointment to see the doctor. As has been my experience with all GP's she was very good and she agreed that I had a chest infection. I mentioned to her that I had seen a couple of tiny traces of blood in my phlegm and from this point on I can only say that the NHS proved itself to be a truly amazing institution.

The GP sent me for an X-ray which showed something in my lung (I have seen the X-ray and I couldn't see anything) and she then made me an appointment for a CT scan and a follow up with a consultant, which all happened very quickly. The scan showed something in my lung which they presumed, on a worst case scenario basis, to be a cancer and requested a biopsy as well as a PET scan to establish if it was cancer and if it had spread elsewhere. I was also allocated a Macmillan nurse who has always been available to me and has been at my ongoing appointments to support and help me if needed.

Ultimately it turns out that I had a specific type of cancerous tumour in my lung that needed to be removed but due to its precise location it was going to be difficult to save the lung. My surgeon and his team did an amazing job and removed the tumour whilst only removing a portion of the lung along with it (best case scenario). I believe that it was a major operation and I was in hospital for 5 days and received excellent treatment, care and support from the entire team on the ward. I felt like the nursing staff had really invested in me (and everybody on the ward) and understood the procedure that I had undergone and that they truly cared for me and were working very hard to make my recovery as comfortable as possible. I will be having follow up for a number of years to come but we believe that I am now cancer free.

My story is not about me. I am writing this because I want to tell you how exceptional I believe the treatment is that I received, I am not eloquent enough to really express how strongly I feel about all those who had anything to do with my care but I can tell you that everything happened exactly as I would have hoped for and I felt that everybody truly cared for me and was committed to resolving my problem. Thank you so very much!