You will be seen at the Victoria Hospital you can find useful information by clicking on these links

Travel and Car Parking

Facilities and Amenities

Wards

Once we have received a referral, your Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) will be in touch to provide guidance on what we do next. We will assess what investigations are necessary and help go through the different options to allow you to make an informed decision. We have a clinic on a Friday morning at the Victoria Hospital and we might see you there to talk through options. At the first clinic we will ask you about your general health, medical history and current symptoms. We will give you as much or as little information about your cancer as you wish and will answer your questions openly and honestly. Please tell us if there is anything you do not want to talk about. It can also be helpful to write down any questions you may have and bring these with you to the clinic. You are welcome to bring family members or friends with you.

Thinking about your answers to the following questions can help you when we talk to you about your care:

• What do you know about your illness at the moment?
• What really matters to you when you think about your health?
• What matters to you the most when thinking about the future?

Investigations

We often examine you and do tests to try and find out where the cancer started. Sometimes we will do a biopsy which is where we take a bit of the cancer out and look at it with a microscope. This is normally done as a day case.

If the primary cancer cannot be found after these tests we say this is a cancer of unknown primary (CUP). Although we may not be able to tell you where your cancer started we can learn enough about your cancer from these tests. This means we are still able to talk to you about what this means for you, how best to manage your cancer and any possible treatment options.

Sometimes we need to have more information and we might arrange for you to have more tests. We will make sure this is the right thing for you. It can take a few days or up to a few weeks for test results to be ready. We know that waiting for results can be a worrying time so we will let you know as soon as results are available.

We will meet again in clinic once we have all the information to discuss with you the best way to manage your cancer and your symptoms.

Chemo or radiotherapy?

Depending on the type of cancer and your general health we may talk to you about chemotherapy (cancer drug treatment) or radiotherapy (X-ray treatment) to try to slow down the cancer growth or to help you feel better. We will give you information about the possible benefits and downsides of any treatment and will talk to you about possible side effects. You should take time to decide if these treatments are the right choice for you.

Research

We may also talk to you about any relevant clinical trials or research projects.

Best Supportive Care

Sometimes we do not think that chemotherapy or radiotherapy will help you. We will talk to you about symptom control and the best way to support you and your family. This is often called ‘best supportive care’. We often ask the palliative care team to meet with you in hospital or at home as they can help give advice on symptom management. We work closely with your GP and district nurses and together we can help to keep you in your own home as much as possible, rather than spending time in hospital.

Please let the team know what is important to you during these discussions.

Cancer of Unknown Primary Clinic

We have a CUP clinic on a Friday morning at the Victoria Hospital. At this clinic you might see the Consultant or the CNS. We would recommend bringing someone with you as it can be difficult to remember everything that is discussed. The CNS will generally call you a couple of days after your clinic to check if you have any questions or if there is anything you are unsure of.

If we find your primary cancer then we may refer you to that specialist team to take over your care. Your Clinical Nurse Manager however will maintain contact with you until you get to know and are comfortable with your new specialist team.

This is where you will find information about how you can help yourself before surgery.

Preparing for surgery

Prehabilitation

Prehabilitation Sessions: Available at Maggies Centre Fife:

Thursdays 14.00-16.00 (pre-booked by the specialist nursing team)

We would recommend bringing someone with you to your Friday CUP clinic as it can be difficult to remember everything that is discussed.

You can read more about CUP and cancer on these websites, or please ask us for an information booklet:

Macmillian Cancer 

Cancer Research UK

CUP Foundation

The Maggie’s Centre is next to the Victoria hospital and is a great place to get support and guidance. You can just drop in and meet the team. They are open Monday to Friday.