Thinking Aloud On a Sunday

~ beetleypete

The Forgotten.

Remember before all we talked about was the Coronavirus? Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?

I woke up thinking about a news report I watched on our local news. It featured a lady who had been due to have a life-saving cancer operation, back in March. They had predicted a very good outcome, one that might well give her another ten years of life. Ten more years with her family and friends, ten more years of doing whatever she could; reading, pursuing her hobbies, and enjoying her garden.

But the operation was cancelled, because of the pandemic and the demand for beds in hospitals. The lady understood. A worldwide-pandemic was something new, something huge, and she was just one woman in an obscure English vilage. If her operation had to be delayed, then so be it. Let them deal with the shocking number of cases of Covid-19, and she could have her operation a little bit later on.

Except she didn’t get that operation. And by the time she was eventually called back to see her hospital doctor last week, six months had passed since she had first been told an urgent operation woud save her life. The tumour she has is now inoperable. It has spread too far, and cannot be removed. They have offered her debilitating treatment to shrink the growth, but that will only give her a few more weeks, not those ten years.

Interviewed in her garden, she was upset, but not bitter. She had accepted her raw deal, in the knowledge that people might recover from Covid-19 and go on to live longer, fuller lives. Though she couldn’t help but comment on the fact that she was one of the ‘forgotten’. Cancer patients, heart patients, those crippled and immobilised by hips and knees requiring surgery. First delayed, then cancelled, eventually forgotten.

Nobody reads out their statistics at the government briefing.

75 thoughts on “Thinking Aloud On a Sunday”

  1. This is very sad, and it’s happening everywhere. Our dear friend had diverticulitis, and emergency surgery. He still is waiting for the final surgery to reconnect everything, while living with ‘the bag’. Terrible!

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  2. Very sad news, but thank you for telling. There is so much, we will not hear about – i call it “collateral damages” – within this Covid-19 desaster. Otherwise i asking myself about the possibility flying her to another hospital, outside of the UK. Wasnt it possible? Every life counts! Michael

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  4. Very sad. Here they seemed obsessed by numbers at first, and now nobody knows for sure. There are many more deaths this year than last year, but of course, they are only counting “confirmed” deaths. And it’s true that many others with non-corona related conditions have not been/are not being treated, although I guess the risk would be not only to do with ICU but also with the fact of exposing them to a higher risk of getting the virus if they are treated in a hospital with many cases. Hospitals are dangerous in the best of cases, and now the situation is far worse.
    I hope something might be learned from this, but judging but how things are doing, it might be wishful thinking.
    And, of course, we have yet to see how things develop, as we haven’t seen the end of this by a long chalk. Take care, Pete, and thanks for bringing this up. They shouldn’t be forgotten.

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    1. Thanks, Olga. There are corresponding ‘success’ stories, including one woman who finally got a liver transplant last week. But so many cancer patients have been more or less ‘forgotten’.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Yes, the numbers are definitely ‘watered down’. The actual ‘excess deaths’ figure is also more likely to be closer to 100,000. They started to claim less deaths a few days before the shops are all due to open today. Not a coincidence, I’m sure.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. I have been wondering about these sorts of cases, Pete. There are an awful lot and I think more people will die as a result of these delays that died from Covid-19. My aunt got her cancer operation but has had no follow up radiation treatment. I pray that the operation was enough. It upsets me a great deal and the same thing has happened here. To date we have had 1 600 Covid deaths. I wonder how high the death rate from no “no urgent” operations will be and whether we’ll ever be told the truth as you have mentioned here.

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  10. This is so sad and unnecessary. It makes no sense to put all other illnesses and medical needs on hold. I understand that some hospitals were stretched to overflowing with covid patients, but many others were not. There have even been layoffs and furloughs in the medical community as some doctors and specialists had nothing to do as their services were cancelled. So tragic. I hope this is remedied soon.

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    1. Some specialist hospitals and departments carried on treatments, but the issue was with ICU beds following surgery. Anyone who might have needed one was delayed due to the virus patients.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. I’ve heard stories like this locally as well. They limited care to some who truly needed it by narrowly defining an ’emergency’ probably due to shortages of PPE. It just seems strange that in the middle of a pandemic many hospitals sat empty and doctors were laid off. Our system here is too fragmented I think.

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  12. Something is horribly wrong with a health care system that isn’t prepared to handle epidemics which could come at any time. One wonders how many more unnecessary premature deaths resulted from this failure.

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    1. I am completely convinced that the ‘official’ death tolls are only a fraction of what has really happened.
      And now they seem prepared to ‘open up’ the country, resulting in many more thousands possibly dying.
      This will be a very black year in the history books of the future.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Same here in the USA….made many times worse by having the worst President in our history in office when the pandemic struck and was first ignored, then downplayed and mismanaged at every turn.

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  13. So much backstories of what the virus has caused over and above it’s own horror. When this is conquered I pray we recognize the wonderful medical front line with pay according to their value.

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  14. Thats sounds aweful. Unfortunately, its a lot worse in countries like India where existing cancer patients vacated their beds to make room for Covid 19! Diseases that were treatable before cause many more deaths than covid now!

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  15. We have gotten a few sporadic reports of deaths from heart attacks and the like due to the lack of medical facility availability, but very few. Since twitter has wished it away, we get scant real government statistics on anything. Warmest regards, Theo

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    1. It’s as if every other medical condition has ceased to exist. I appreciate the demand caused by Covid-19, but those others deserved a chance to live too.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  17. Very sad Pete…we get HEADLINES screaming about numbers, but never about the people. We hear that prisoners are 80% infected in US prisons, but never get another update to say if any have died, gotten sick, or just continued to do their time…it’s a “breathless” sort of journalism that misses the real stories, like this one – until its too late of course then they swoop in to COVER her life and death before moving on to something more interesting – more “clickable…” sorry, ranted a bit there

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    1. Well, it (the NHS) was overwhelmed by the virus panic, which is kind of the point, John. Everyone was so concerned about giving the virus sufferers immediate treatment, people with other problems got overlooked. ‘Exceptional circumstances’ is the answer, I suppose.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. They don’t even count as that here, Frank. The only statistics anyone is interested in discussing are the ones about Covid-19, and how soon they can ‘open up’ the country.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. It seems ironic that when and if the virus subsides, so many others will have died for lack of routine treatment. Those numbers will not be added to the grim death toll though.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I’m sure there are still many people despreately ill with the virus. But it seems that others with very bleak outcomes are not receiving equal treatment. Well done to Phil for all his hard work though. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  25. It’s all about Coronavirus….and so much is forgotten. And our country has no leaders. As was commented in one of the newspapers “We see only a ship of fools, and a plague ship at that.”

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  27. It’s desperate, isn’t it? I can’t bear anymore bad news. I think most of the authorities concerned have mismanaged this crisis to a shocking extent. Worldwide. And the press have not helped, either

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    1. It is, GP. Not featured that much because of the virus news, many people have been left waiting for life-saving treatments and operations. Hopefully, it may get back to normal in some hospitals soon.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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          2. Johnson should be ashamed of himself. All medical workers deserve a pay rise, but he and his chums were happy to vote against that in the past. Now it seems the NHS has been conveniently swept back under the carpet. 😨

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