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How was cancer treatment different in the US and the UK?

14.06.2025 00:02

How was cancer treatment different in the US and the UK?

Treatment centres that were in or out of coverage. A lot of the discussions were about which were the best treatment centres. A number of contributors in the US said how they were unable to use some with an excellent reputation (Mayo clinics came up frequently as an example of good treatment) because some hospitals were not covered by their insurance. In the U.K. I researched the hospitals with a track record of treating what is a rare cancer and asked for my treatment to be carried out there. I was then treated at St Bartholomew’s and The Homerton hospitals in London which are world leaders in anal neoplasia. The only factor in having treatment at my centre of choice was if they had the capacity, not if the NHS would support me having treatment there.

I was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2020 and about a year after that joined a Facebook support group hosted in the USA. While there were a lot of similarities in treatment for US and U.K. residents a number of things stood out.

Aftercare. I received physiotherapy, dietician advice, pain management and counselling after treatment. Many of the US contributors said how these follow on treatments were not covered by their insurance as the company judged that they were not cancer treatments.

Hi everybody! I have been looking at posts on narcs and narc abuse on here and if has really helped me out a lot. I am currently struggling with my situation and need some advice/support. I met a narc last year, everything seemed to good to be true. Love bombing, always texting calling and taking me on dates. Everything changed when someone warned me about him out in public in front of him and who he is. This caused a conflict with us and the love bombing seized. he would tell me that everything is okay and i can come and talk. He would set a time limit on me and kick me out after that. he would then text me like everything was fine and we hung out again and after that he completely ghosted me for one week. He came back and texted me a week later laughing about the ghosting and acting like nothing had happened. he continued to text me ( not like in the beginning) make plans with me, then on the day of the plans he would just ghost me. One day he would act interested the next silence. i contacted him a month later and he acted like nothing happened. He was on a vacation and sent me a picture of another woman ( someone he allegedly met on the trip) to strike a reaction but i never gave him one. After the trip he came to my place and was extremely rude, accusing me of going on dates with a bunch of men. The next day he accused me of being an alcoholic and that he wanted nothing to do with me but said well maybe we can be "friends" then ghosted me i assumed at this point it was over and i would never hear from him again. He contacted me on the holiday a month later acting like everything was great. We ended up hanging out a month or so later and when we hung out it went well, i thought things were going in the right direction. after we hung out.. silence. I would try to text him and if he replied it would be very short then he just stopped replying. He ghosted me for almost three months. I thought he was done this time and of course he popped up again like nothing happened. At this point i was getting sick of if so i questioned him as to why he dissapeared and always does this. Of course he had some sob story about a injury and family member dying of cancer. I felt pity for him and he gave me an apology.. so i took him back stupidly. things seemed to be going smooth for a couple months, of course until his family member died and his injury got better he never contacted me and was distant. Menawhile, i was there for him during the difficult time for him. He lied to me about the funeral and never wanted to chat. I was chasing him and he would always claim nothing was wrong but when i said i thought he used me when he was down he could not handle it and would always tell me he didnt care and to go away. I would get so upset i would try texting him to work it out he would barelt respond and if he did he would not be nice about it. we did hang out a couple times after that, he would ignore me after. One day i was like hey i think you are seeing someone else, and i was like well ixam seeing someone so no problem if you are he said " buy bye good luck with your new guy stop contacting me" i was devastated and tried to get into contact with him for weeks then i just gave up and accepted it was over. He ended up contacting me a month later acting like everything was fine. He wanted to go out and have drinks i told him i would. He and i both seemed to have a great time. He ends up ignoring me again. I kept texting him trying to figure out what was wrong. He kept saying everything was fine and i said ok can we hang out again? He said maybe i was like why? He just kept saying maybe … our last conversation we had… i said what is wrong ? He said nothing is wrong everything is fine. I asked him why he keeps saying maybe. He said " maybe but i dont want to see you right now" i said why? He saix " im just not feeling it, if i wanted to date i would" i said why did you contact me less then a week ago wanting to go out? He said i didnt.. even though he did. So i said should i just move on or what? He said whatever you want to do. So i said that he was really confusing me and asked him if he had anything more to say before i move on? My messages were turning green so i panicked he blocked me and reacted irrationally. I said " omg did you block me? My messages are not going through. Even texted him on my work phone asking what was up. And called him twice ( please dont judge me i know it is pathetic i never was this type of girl before him) so he replied and said " Ok I'll block you now" then immedietly blocked me. He has never blocked me before since I have met him he will just ghost. Is this ths final discard aka " grand finale? Did i just push him too far? this has upset me so much its hard to even function.

Reading your question some examples came to mind.

Treatments and tests that were expensive and unnecessary. Anal cancer has a standard treatment used the world over. It is called the Nigro protocol and was developed in the USA by Dr Norman Nigro in the 1970s. Its aim is to use radiotherapy and chemotherapy to avoid the brutal, life changing surgery (charmingly called Barbie Butt surgery) that was the only option before it was introduced and it has proven highly successful. From reading contributions made in the group by US patients, they often received surgery as first line treatment. Very, very expensive surgery. Chemotherapy is sometimes delivered by inserting a PICC line into veins. US contributors sometimes had these left in for months, even over a year, after chemotherapy ended because their insurance wouldn't pay to have it removed in case it was required again, so adding another claim to the insurance company for a second procedure.

Going back to work. Like other cancer treatments the period after treatment for anal cancer ends can be challenging for many months. Fatigue, nausea, fecal incontinence and chronic pain are frequent issues. US contributors were often going back to work, or worked throughout their treatment, because of their concern that they would lose their jobs and so their workplace health insurance or lose their salary that was paying for treatment and medication not covered by insurance..

Is the Shia claim true that Imam Ali was born inside the Kaaba?