Perth mum faces surgery delays
A Perth mother of 10-year-old twins feared for her life after possibly life-saving breast cancer surgery was put off for weeks.
Megan Kemp said yesterday she felt she was living with a time bomb after multiple tumours were found in one of her breasts.
The stress of her diagnosis was compounded by delays for surgery, leaving her not knowing how serious the cancer is.
The 46-year-old single mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer early last month and was to have a lumpectomy at Fiona Stanley Hospital on March 9.
But when tests revealed more tumours, doctors decided she needed a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
That operation was scheduled for this week but Ms Kemp was told at her preoperative appointment last week that because of the time and complexity of the surgery it could not go ahead as planned and she might have to wait until May.
She said she had used most of her sick leave from her mail- delivery job because she was too anxious and distracted to ride a motorcycle.
"Everything progressed fast at the beginning and I was feeling reassured I would be treated quickly but things hit a brick wall," she said.
"I booked time off work when I was due to have the lumpectomy and now I can't go back to work until this is sorted because I'm worried and not sleeping at night.
"As far as I know I'm stage one but I don't know if it's gone to my lymph nodes and I won't know that until the surgery, or what treatment I'll need after that."
Ms Kemp said medical staff told her family of their frustration at not being able to book theatre time and she had left messages with the hospital in the past few days about her concerns.
After inquiries by _The West Australian _yesterday, Ms Kemp was told her case was being looked at and her surgery might come forward.
By late afternoon, she was told she could have surgery on April 7.
FSH commissioning chief executive David Russell-Weisz said he could not comment on specific cases but complex surgery needed extra time and had to be planned carefully, including ensuring the most appropriate specialists were available. Efforts were always made to give patients their surgery as soon as possible.
Shadow health minister Roger Cook said it was unacceptable that Ms Kemp was waiting for her surgery to be rescheduled and only received a firm date after media inquiries.
"The Government expected Fiona Stanley Hospital to be able to pick up all the slack from Fremantle and Kaleeya hospitals as well as take onboard all the work coming out of having a brand new emergency department," he said.
"Instead they have been caught short trying to handle the elective surgery and that's why we have seen a blowout in the number of people on the waiting list."
At the end of last month, 18,149 people were waiting for elective surgery at WA public hospitals - 487 more than the previous month, which had the highest number for at least three years.
