Delayed Cancer Screenings Because of Covid
- A grieving husband is speaking out after his wife's death from metastasized ovarian cancer, saying that an in-person doctor's visit could have saved her life.
- Trish was denied an in-person doctor's visit because of Covid-19 a situation not unheard of. While the U.K. has different protocols than the U.S., people around the world have been denied in-person appointments due to the virus.
- But there is light at the end of the tunnel, according to a study released over the summer. The study concluded that at the end of 2020, cancer screenings rebounded, and screenings are returning in a robust way.
Trish Gower, 74, was a retired hairdresser and mother of two. She and her husband, Raymond Gower, also 74, had been together since they were 15 years old. Their time together was tragically cut short when Trish died last summer.
Read MoreTrish Gower's Misdiagnosis & Ovarian Cancer Battle
Trish was denied an in-person appointment for two months, but she was, however, allowed to meet with her doctor over the phone.
But after the first phone appointment, Trish was told she was most likely experiencing acid reflux. She was prescribed two three-week courses of heartburn medication to treat it.
Two months would pass before Raymond called the doctor himself, this time to tell his wife's general practitioner that Trish had developed two lumps on her throat. It was then that Trish was allowed to see her doctor in person. But her symptoms had already worsened; she was unable to walk down the hallway in her home or finish a sentence without gasping for air.
Ovarian Cancer: The Cancer That Whispers
She was sent to the hospital immediately for a scan that ultimately revealed that Trish had cancer in her right lung. It was then determined that the cancer had actually originated in her ovaries ovarian cancer and spread to her lungs, as well as her lymphatic system. Last stage, or stage 4 cancer, means the disease has spread beyond its point of origination.
Doctors tried to extend her life by immediately starting her on chemotherapy, but after three rounds of the intense drug being pumped through her body, it was determined the treatment was not working. Trish died of advanced ovarian cancer just a few weeks later on July 26, 2021.
"The cancer could have been picked up earlier if she had been seen properly by a doctor face-to-face," Raymond says. "But by the time she started having proper treatment at (the) hospital, it was too late. I don't want anyone else to go through this heartache."
Delayed Cancer Screenings Because of Covid
Covid has wreaked havoc on everything, including the medical system. People were scared of catching the virus, especially at the height of the pandemic, so they canceled or postponed their routine doctor visits and check-ups.
Or, there were people like Trish, who needed to see a doctor but were turned away because Covid made it extremely difficult for hospitals to accommodate some appointments.
In fact, during an event that The Washington Post hosted in June, Dr. Norman "Ned" Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, said there was a 95% decline in various kinds of cancer screenings, including mammography, Pap smears, as well as screenings for lung and colon cancer. Sharpless compared that to his initial "worst case assumptions," such as a 75% decrease in mammograms.
In addition, NCI predicts that over the course of the next decade, about 10,000 excess deaths will occur from breast and colon cancer in the United States alone as a result of pandemic-related delays in screening and treatment.
It is Important to Continue Cancer Screenings Through Covid-19
Regular screening tests can be very important in detecting early stages of cancer something that could have saved Trish’s life from being taken too early by ovarian cancer. And since Covid-19 has halted many screenings, some patients may be worried about their health.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel, according to a study released over the summer. The study concluded that at the end of 2020, cancer screenings had rebounded.
"Cancer hasn't gone away just because we're in the middle of a pandemic," Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a breast oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet in a previous interview.
"Now that we have a better hold on how to protect patients, on how to clean and disinfect between patients, and how to not crowd our waiting rooms, it is really, really important to talk to your doctor about screening mammogram or any other preventative test that you may need," she adds, "as we know that prevention works."
This is something Raymond wishes would have been available to his wife with ovarian cancer in the U.K., as he believes it could have saved her life.
Contributing: SurvivorNet staff
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