Diagnoses

Hello.  I have been on this board before and look at it probably once a week.  I have read so many messages on this board.  It astounds me that so many people have to endure this terrible disease and it is amazing to read everyones story, happy or sad.

My thought that brought me to write another message though is with the obvious knowledge that Stomach Cancer is so hard to detect in early stages.  Why is it not checked out sooner?  I am referring to my mother's case, I suppose but, it seems to be so many others as well.  When a patient comes into a doctor's office and complains of swallowing problems or weight loss or pain around the rib cage, etc... why is it not mandatory to investigate these symptoms more seriously??

I am guessing that money is the reason.  I understand that ulcers and gerd are much more common and are easier to treat but, it still doesn't make sense to me because lives are being lost too easily due to late diagnoses.

My mother who had a different cancer 10 years earlier was still diagnosed 5 months too late with Stomach Cancer after she first went to see her doctor.  He treated her for an ulcer and after she went back to him he did investigate further with a barium swallow and blood work.  When these tests came back with nothing terribly unusual he still continued treating her for severe acid reflux after even more visits from her.  I remember going with her and listening to her complaints, all of which are mentioned on this board numerous times (I did not know of this board at the time though).  I know she was so frustrated because the tests were not showing anything and yet she felt something very wrong.  I am not blaming my mother's doctor personally.  The more severe my mother's symptoms got he did push for more testing.  I am sure he did wish he could do it differently but, this seems to be a common problem.  That is what worries me....

I guess in the meantime people have to remember they know their bodies better than anyone.  Please investigate your health problems thoroughly until you are satisfied.

Take care my friends. 

There was recently a program on doctor patient relationships and their advice was due to doctors sometimes thinking too much inside their boxes and jumping to the most common cause of symptoms.

 The advice was to ask the doctor when he makes a diagnosis to spend sometime with you explaining that if it happens that his initial diagnosis is not accurate, WHAT else might it be given these symptoms.  The idea is to force them to come up with OTHER conditions that may have similar symptoms; the patient can then ask for diagnostic testing to rule out these OTHER possibilities.

 IT sounds like good advice and more patients need to ask, WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?