10
Section 2
Diagnosis and Treatment
As your child progresses through detailed examinations and scans you will
become more and more worried there is a serious problem.You may have several
appointments arranged at short notice, often jumping the queue as an emergency
case. A consultant paediatric oncologist will appear early on in this process and this
may seem very rushed and frightening.The doctors carrying out the tests are very
keen to end the uncertainty and worry you are feeling and so are striving to obtain a
defnite diagnosis as quickly as possible.
It is very likely that you will not initially take in much of the information you are given
as you will be in shock and fnd it diffcult to function as you would normally. Don’t
worry if you have not asked any of the questions you meant to as you will have
plenty of opportunity to do so later. Parents often feel overwhelmed by the enormity
of what is happening and cannot deal with anything else at this time.
People deal with bad news in different ways and over the frst few
days it is important to give your spouse, partner and family members
space to get used to the news in their own way.
It is probable that your child’s treatment will begin quite quickly after diagnosis.
Although you will be worried about the treatment and its side effects, once you’ve
decided to go ahead with treatment it is important to start it promptly.
It may help you at this stage to hear about Katie’s experience as it illustrates the
various stages you are likely to go through with your child.
Katie’s symptoms appeared gradually and we had been to our GP on several
occasions; frstly we were told to come back if we were still concerned and then, at
an out-of-hours surgery, she was diagnosed with Labyrinthitis (an imbalance in the
inner ear which causes severe dizziness) and given medication for it. After a week
of taking this medication we went back to our local GP and, after some simple tests
(such as walking a straight line and pointing to the GP’s fnger), a referral was made
to our local hospital. Katie was seen the next day by a consultant and eye specialist
who both found nothing wrong but said they would carry out an MRI scan as the
only place they couldn’t see was the back of Katie’s head.