Interview LC30

Age at interview: 53

Age at diagnosis: 50

Brief Outline: Diagnosed with lung cancer in April 2000, followed by lobectomy (removal of a lobe of the left lung).

Background: Medical records assistant, married, 2 children.

Her epidural had to be stopped because her blood pressure dropped, which left her in pain.

So what sort of anaesthetic did you have in the end?

She gave me an epidural and then obviously the full general anaesthetic.

As well?

As well, oh yes thank God for that. Yes so obviously I had the, she injected the epidural and then I was taken to the operating theatre and they did the full general anaesthetic. The next thing I was aware of was obviously the recovery room which I remember quite distinctly because I was in severe pain with my shoulder, and one of the nurses was massaging my shoulder.  She said, I remember her telling me that she said the pain was because I'd had my arm up in the air for like five hours, I'd been in there five hours and that just did sometimes happen, I think I'd got like frozen shoulder or something. So that's all I remember was that severe pain in my shoulder.

Where was the epidural exactly, which part of your body?

Down the bottom of the spine. They then took me back up to the high dependency unit and I felt quite well at that point.  I remember waving as I came back up because I'd made friends with some of the ladies in the ward and thinking thank God it's all over, now we've got to wait and see you know what the results are. But I did feel quite, quite good at that point, apart from the pain in my shoulder.

Did you have any painkillers for that?

They came, they sent a specialist along, a pain specialist along. They first of all tried heat treatment on there. I was already being given, they wouldn't give me any other pain killers because I'd already got the epidural so they were just trying heated pads on there to see if it eased it.  It eased a little bit but not a great deal.  In the high dependency unit unfortunately my blood pressure kept dropping so they decided that they would take the epidural off because apparently that sometimes happens with epidurals. They would replace it with morphine but I couldn't have a great deal because my blood pressure kept dropping. So that was pretty horrendous because nobody had prepared me for what pain it was going to be. I think the pain was awful. I've had operations before and I've never experienced pain like that one.

Where was the worst pain?

The worst pain was actually here where the drainage tubes were. 

She found the clinical care marvellous but did not receive enough support after her operation.

What's your view of the National Health Service after all this?

The National Health Service I think has been absolutely brilliant, I can't fault them before or during my operation, I thought they were absolutely marvellous, but after the operation I think they're sadly lacking. I don't think there's enough care given to people afterwards. They've done, as far as, it's just the way their attitude is, we've diagnosed the problem, we're removing the problem, now get on with your life and that's, that's not right, you should get support afterwards. That area they're sadly lacking in I think.

She encouraged a nurse to set up a support group which has been a great success.

That support group, I wish it had been there when I had mine diagnosed. After I had the 'all clear' I said to my husband, "I feel I ought to put something back." So I wrote a letter to the lung cancer specialist nurse and said to her, "Is there any way I can help by perhaps talking to patients who are going through the same thing or just before they go to surgery or is there anything I can do, please let me know." She wrote back to me and said she wanted to do a focus group where people could talk about their experiences. From this focus group myself and two other ladies expressed a desire for there to be a carers' group or care group, support group, in our area because there wasn't one. The nurse took this very much to heart when she went back and did her utmost to try and get one set up because we'd said there was definitely a need for it. It's been going now I think about twelve months and it's a great success and it's just wonderful. To be able to go there, I mean as I say I'm one of the lucky ones but to go there and talk to people who are just going through it now, or unfortunately like some of them are terminal, but we have a laugh and we support each other and it's nice to know other people feel the same way as you do. A  marvellous thing - I wish it had been there when I, I mean that's another thing I couldn't approach the nurse, but if I'd have seen an advertisement for a support group I would've gone along to that definitely.