Three years ago William had a bad chest infection which lasted up to three months. Whilst the infection seemed to clear up after a course of antibiotics, he suffered from more and more over the years making it impossible for him to work for fear of aggravating the infections. It was during one particular bout of illness that he became so concerned that he visited his doctor and was referred to the emergency department.

At the emergency department he underwent a chest x-ray during which a lesion was found on his lung. Further tests showed that he had lung cancer, however as there was no evidence that the cancer had spread to other areas of the body he was able to undergo surgery to remove the lesion.

Following surgery William was very uneasy. He was experiencing pain in his left chest which radiated down his left arm, and couldn’t stop worrying about the fact that he hadn’t been seen by an oncologist. His treating doctor had recommended that William be closely monitored post-surgery, but William kept wondering whether he should be undergoing chemotherapy.

By this stage William had already been off work for a number of months. He was finding it impossible to concentrate and was feeling really low. Fortunately his policy with MLC gave him access to Best Doctors which would allow him to request an international second medical opinion on his case.

At a most vunerable time in my life Best Doctors were my lifeline.

Having spoken to the Best Doctors medical team, an expert oncologist was selected to review William’s case. To start with, William wanted to fully understand his condition, and had asked the expert if he could review his case history and explain his condition to him in layman’s terms. The expert did exactly that, going through the results of all of William’s tests and explaining that William was very lucky to have his cancer detected at such an early stage. The expert explained that there was a relatively low risk of recurrence and mentioned additional tests that William could undergo in order to ensure that the cancer hadn’t spread any further.

William was also keen to find out the best way of managing his condition. Should he have chemotherapy? Or, is there any other kind of treatment that he should explore? The expert explained that he did not recommend chemotherapy as the tumour was so small that it would not be necessary and it would not help to decrease the risk of recurrence. He recommended a series of scans and tests that should be carried out at regular intervals but reassured William that he had an excellent prognosis.

The report provided William with the peace of mind that he needed and he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, but above all he really valued the fact that he had the Best Doctors team by his side.

Confident with treatment plan and ready to move forward