Sorry to hear that Mags .
I think you are right there is no way would I even dream of saying anything to a stranger .
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If it meant telling a stranger you happened upon no absolutely not .
Once the word got around you would become a leper.
People would approach with fear in their eyes.
I’d never go out .
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Hi
Not meant to be like that at all Art, you have intuition, you are very good at reading people.
I am the original, say it as it is big ugly Northerner, and an Enforcement Officer to boot.
I van be very blunt with the baddies and don’t mess about.
Giving bad news to nice people is difficult for me, I struggle to find the right words.
They are good people and bad news is something they don’t deserve.
It is a problem that even trained professionals have, including medics.
Some are empathic, some are not.
That is the difference between good Doctors and not so good Doctors, and very occasionally arrogant gits who slip through the net.
Green Resus, bay 2, if you are in that you are in trouble, right in front of the specialists, monitors all over the place and the crash cart out.
In my case, heart failure and my lungs are filling up with fluid, not the best place to be.
A new Consultant, looked young, straight into my Respect Form, about Resus.
The rest of the team I knew, been in loads of times.
A graphic description of my age, 70 statistics, yes I can read the Monitors, previous medical history and chances of survival.
Then when I wanted to carry on, a blood curdling description of Cardiac Resus
The pain, the broken ribs, the futility of it all, the chances of a vegetative state if my heart restarted.
The response was not what he expected, don’t worry Doc, I know exactly how to break ribs to cause the minimum possible pain.
One will pierce your heart, it will all be over in a flash and you will not feel a thing.
I had to take off my forced oxygen mask to get the words out.
A phrase from the back, behind a surgical mask.
Meet Ian, one of our regulars, more lives than a cat.
He is not joking.
Isn’t, this scenario similar to if a stranger swimming in water and you sense that they are in difficulty and you are a really good swimmer. Should you go in and save them, or think it’s not my place to help them and let them drown?
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Has some of the same elements as that hypothetical, doesn’t it? 
I didn’t write it with that in mind but it has some of the same elements.
In this case, familiarity with the person could be substituted for distance.
For anyone not familiar with the dilemma.
I think it does depend on your own perspective and experience though, as to whether you tell someone or not.
I had a lump on my neck which caused all sorts of issues. I left it for about 8 weeks, thinking it was nothing more than a blocked gland somewhere. Turns out it wasn’t, it was stage 3 Thyroid cancer. So if someone had noticed it and told me then before I finally went to get it seen to, they would still be getting christmas cards from me 10 years on!
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Glad you got that treated. 
Perfect story for this thread.
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Oh no goodness are you going to be alright? Xxx
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Yes thanks Queenie…10 years on and it’s all gone. Meds now take the place of the thyroid which was all removed, so its all good! 
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I don’t think that is a very good analogy .
The expensive clothes you can tear off and indeed would do to enter water .
We can help children in other countries but we can’t save the world at our own expense we are after all animals albeit higher ones and have basic instincts the first being self preservation.
I feel the same Pixie. After surviving cancer because I went immediately to the hospital having found a lump, I would encourage even a stranger to get it checked.
I had a very aggressive cancer and if I hadn’t got early help, I may not have still been here 11 years later.
Cancer cells grow much faster than ordinary cells, so time lost before obtaining treatment usually means a lower chance of survival.
In the news last night a lady with ovarian cancer was given an injection, that hasn’t even been given a name yet, in the hope that it will help her own body to destroy the cancer cells. She was in The Christie hospital near Manchester, which only treats cancer. I was treated there too!
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This is scary for those who haven’t been able to access treatment due to covid and lockdowns.
I’m glad you survived it Twink, its a helluva journey to go through.
As my consultant said " You were so positive about beating it I suspect that cancer was more scared of you than you were of the cancer" 
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Good for you!
I just went into meltdown. It didn’t help that I was misdiagnosed (not officially misdiagnosed, just the doctor didn’t seem to know how to read the report and therefore didn’t actually tell me I had anything wrong with me. It was the consultant who told me because I demanded a second opinion)
A close friend has been fighting it for 6 years, but they have now told her they can offer no further treatment. She has secondary cancers & I think she has had enough now but is grateful for the extra 6 years it gave her.
We have been friends for 60 years so I will miss our weekly phone calls when it happens. In the meantime, we will still chat every week & put the world to right, but she knows there will be a lot of tears when they end!
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Thanks. I told her I may be runover by a bus so she may not be the first to go, because she knows I will miss her!
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She’s still attend Christie’s? Only a couple of miles from me and if you’re ever round my neck of the woods it’d be nice to meet for a cuppa.
She has decided to stay at home, but if I have to go there meeting for a cuppa would be nice. 
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Twink, I’m sorry…60 years is longer than I’ve been alive so I can only imagine what you both must be going through.
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