6.10.2008 delayed

Oh, what a shocker:

Teenagers with cancer often face significant delays in being initially diagnosed, researchers have warned.

Since my primary genetic disorder went undiagnosed for thirteen years and my rare and virulent [and obvious given the massive tumor at the front of my, you know, neck] thyroid cancer was ignored so long it wandered over to my lymph system way back in ye olden times (aka the 1980's) this is just, well, unacceptable. We should have learned a little bit more by now.

I do not think this is specific to the UK: it is an inherent attitude on the part of even the most experienced and well-meaning medical professionals.

With my excessive personal and family background, and history of advocacy, it still took over two years of persistent arguing to get my sick daughter diagnosed with her chronic Thankfully Not Cancer disorder. When they started to pay attention they ended up doing a biopsy of her esophagus: quite a different answer than the original refrain "Oh, she is a teenager, she is probably making it up to skive off school" expressed numerous times by her physicians.

While there are definitely Ferris Beuller characters wandering around this planet, it is simply unfair to characterize all sick kids as malingerers or worse. Children and teenagers have, perhaps more than adults, an understanding of their health - an intuitive ability to report when something is really wrong.

I always knew before the doctors when my remission ended. Always.

I say it all the time but feel the need to repeat once again: listen to kids. They are the best experts on their own lives.

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