The health crisis and its secondary effects – already visible. “The later cancer is diagnosed, the more difficult it is to fight it. The pandemic is negatively affecting cancer patients, without any doubt, “underlines Patxi García, manager of AECC -Spanish Association Against Cancer- in Aragon. Delayed treatments, paralyzed clinical trials and tremendously affected surgeries.” We are influenced by the waves. of covid in surgeries and treatments. The conditions today are smaller than in March, but they still exist. Now we are very concerned about the fourth wave in Aragon. If we get to the point that there are no ICUs, some surgeries will be postponed. It already happened when the pandemic started “, he maintains.
Since the health crisis began, 21% fewer cases of cancer have been diagnosed. “That they are detected less, does not mean that there are not. They are not being diagnosed in time due to the coronavirus”, the manager points out. The screening programs were completely paralyzed during the first confinement. The breast one recovered after the end of the alarm state, however, the colorectal one, it has resumed just a month ago. “Screening programs are very important. Colorectal cancer is the most common if we talk about women and men as a whole. It has a 90% survival rate, but if it is not detected early, it becomes 50% “, Add.
“It cannot be that we are not afraid of going on the bus or shopping, but we are going to a health center”
“Access to Primary Care is being very difficult and it is the main access door to the health system. Added to that is the idea that going to health centers is not safe and it is not. It cannot be that we are not afraid of going on the bus or shopping, but that we are afraid of going to a health center “, defends García, who considers that “There are people who delay the visit to the doctor and in some cases it can lead to something more complicated.”
According to the INE, in 2018, cancer was the second leading cause of death, with 112,714 deaths in Spain, behind diseases of the circulatory system. Specifically, 22,153 people died of bronchial and lung cancer, 11,265 of colon, 7,120 of pancreas, 6,621 of breast and 5,841 of prostate. In Aragon, 8,464 new cases were detected in 2019. Of these, 6,032 in Zaragoza, 1,477 in Huesca and 956 in Teruel.
“They told me that my lump was not bad and I decided to wait for the pandemic to pass to operate.” Elena León, 38 years old.
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“They told me that my lump was not bad and I decided to wait for the pandemic to pass to operate or for infections and deaths to decrease.” In December 2019, Elena León, 38, found a lump in her breast and soon went to the specialist. “I was small, but I went to the gynecologist and they did all the pertinent tests, including a biopsy, and They told me it wasn’t bad ”. With the results of the tests, the doctors decided to meet Elena every six months and not operate.
“The lump started to grow very fast and in March, when I had my annual check-up, they told me they were going to remove it, but that there was no rush because it wasn’t bad. Days later, they decreed a state of alarm due to the situation of the covid, ”says Elena, who has been living in Zaragoza for a year. With the increase in the number of infections and deaths, and taking into account that, a priori, there were only going to be 15 days of a state of alarm and that the lump was not bad, Elena decided to wait. “Infections rose every day so I thought, if there is no hurry, why am I going to go into an operating room? If I find out that it is cancer, I go straight to operate, without thinking about it, I would have given the covid the same, but my diagnosis was wrong “, indicates.
“If I find out that it is cancer, I go straight to the operating room”
Another lump in the armpit led him directly to the preoperative and the intervention. “I went to the consultation on a Thursday and on Tuesday I had surgery. Shortly afterwards they told me it was cancer, ”says Elena. Last week he finished his chemotherapy treatment after 16 sessions. “The chemo leaves you a wreck, but I’m done now “, aim.
“I had my second cancer detected before the pandemic and I have not suffered delays in any tests.” Coral Ortín, 52 years old.
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In the opposite case is the zaragozana Coral Ortín Lázaro, 52, who has metastasized since 2018 and overcame a first cancer in 2014. “If I had to rate Miguel Servet’s oncology service from 1 to 10, I would give them a 10. I am alive because of them. My second cancer was detected before the pandemic and I have not suffered delays in any test, or in consultations, or in treatments ”, points out. The pandemic has not changed its treatment at any time and has even been hospitalized in the middle of the second wave of covid, when hospitals were on the verge of saturation. “I started to feel very bad, I couldn’t even walk. My oncologist, Ana Herrero, referred me to the emergency room and supervised my entire stay at the hospital. After numerous tests, they detected a disease classified as rare, and autoimmune, which is related to cancer. After confirming the diagnosis, I was discharged and I feel that I have been born again, I thought it was the end, but I am recovering ”, declares the Zaragoza.
“Every day that I am still alive, it is a miracle”
“I only have good words for the staff. I felt like the doctors were thinking, ‘Come on, we have to get this woman out.’ I am very spirited and I live each day as if it were the last. Every day that I am still alive is a miracle, ”says Coral. Regarding the covid protocol, you can only add that “impeccable“:” To enter oncology they did two PCR tests to make sure that I was not infected and thus, not put other patients at risk, “he says.
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