#1 First encounter
Mr. Patient receives a priority oncology path card. Nine days later he lands in hospital for surgery.
Introduction
Mr. Patient provoked by ongoing stomach problems goes to a lab to get occult blood test. Test comes back positive, meaning somewhere in gastrointestinal tract a blood loss must present. Primary care physician dismisses results with "ah, probably hemorrhoids".
Five months later Mr. Patient, being more precocious than his physician goes for colonoscopy examination. Doctor provides results on paper: C18.7 - Malignant neoplasm of sigmoid colon at 28cm - colon cancer, large enough to stop colonoscopy. Mr. Patient receives a priority oncology path card. Nine days later he lands in hospital for surgery. Radiology results show no other cancer presence in the body. Day later he goes through surgery (left side hemicolectomy, cutting out colon portion with cancer tissue and surrounding margins). Surgery is successful.
Week later histopathology results come back stating cancer grade was G3 / high-grade, NOS with pericolic tissue infiltration pT3, 2/12 lymph nodes with cancer cells (pN1b) M-8140/3.
Not even 3 weeks ago Mr. Patient was living normal life. Now he is missing 35cm of colon and while still in pain after surgery he's getting scheduled for global standard 6 months of FOLFOX-4 chemotherapy. Because grade is so high (G3) and cancer was present in 2 out of 12 nodes three independent oncology surgeons estimate 50-60% chance of 5yr survival due to potential of cancer return and metastases.