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Mr Ali Salih 2019-12-06 Person 4 5 0

Dr. Salih performed my right mastectomy at Basildon Hospital on the 21st October. The operation was a complete success without complications and I found Dr. Salih to be very professional. He diagnosed my breast cancer on 31st August 2019, the same day of my mammogram and biopsies. I had the standard 2 week wait for results on my prognosis, what type of cancer I had and the grade etc. I am 48 years old with young children and the prospect of potentially not being here was devastating. During that 2 week wait I decided I wanted a double mastectomy as there is a family history of it returning in the other breast. I was very disappointed when Dr. Salih said that is not an option he would not remove healthy breast tissue, unnecessary surgery. At the time this deeply upset me, I felt it was essential to lengthen my odds. It is an extremely emotional time and therefore difficult to understand Dr. Salih’s primary focus as surgeon is to remove the cancer from your body that is his job, the future issues fall under other umbrella’s like oncology. Apart from not being able to have a double mastectomy the other negatives; receiving a copy of a letter sent to my GP which stated my left breast had several benign enhancements and a shadow ? I had not been informed of this in my appointments and it caused anxiety ... surely that was evidence I should have them both removed ? Over to my breast nurse Helen who was/is amazing she understood my frustration and rather than make excuses said she would make Mr. Salih aware how it affected me, he is very busy and again only concerned with actual cancer but when your a cancer patient any other relevant information not discussed causes distress. I am still under Basildon hospital and due to start my chemotherapy in January. Mr. Salih is extremely busy he has a never ending patient list and appointments are very rushed (most of mine were also up to 2 hours late) that said he is an excellent surgeon and I feel very fortunate to have fallen onto his list. Points to note for improvement ; When Mr. Salih told me I had cancer I was alone, he said I will leave you with the nurse to book you in for 2 weeks time and answer any questions. (I don’t know if she was a nurse or an auxiliary) but in my shock the only questions I had were should I take anything or stop anything during the 2 week wait and I’m guessing it’s bad because he said he was concerned with the size of my tumour. She said to live every day to the full and spend every penny I had. On the concern she said but it’s positive that he hasn’t sent you for a bone scan, that would be worse. So I left the room thinking I’m probably dying, those comments made it worse and as for the positive ... he did actually send me for a bone scan and a CT scan 2 weeks later which again terrified me. She was a lovely lady with the best intentions but should refrain from those in future.