my father had cancer.
turns out there was a misdiagnosis - he was initially diagnosed to have either a peptic or duodenal ulcer (i dont remember which).
then 2 yrs later my folks are in holiday in monaco - father collapses in the street and taken off to hospital.
following day in hospital, doc tells my parents to return home immediately - in the interim he will send a referral to my father's doctor.
folks return home, father goes to gp.
gp refers to an oncologist. oncologists does a whole lot of scans and tests.
oncologist looks at results and tells my father she recommends exploratory surgery before embarking on any course of treatment.
2 days later father is in surgery (should take an hour or so).
within 20 minutes, surgeon abandons surgery.
surgeon tells me had he attempted to go any further, he probably will have killed my father on the table.
cancer was inoperable and extensive - any form of treatment would be futile, the only form of intervention at that point would be pain management.
i ask the surgeon how long does my father have to live - he tells me "it's impossible to predict, but in his experience, about 6 weeks".
6 weeks later (give a day or two), my father closed his eyes on the world.
moral of the story here is diagnosis & 2nd opinion - even 3rd if doubts remain.
then commencement of treatment asap