I was due to have my 3mthly check up this month but my armpit felt lumpy so I rang up and it got brought forward a month (though that still meant a 3 week wait for an appointment).
At the appt the cons was saying everything felt fine and I was probably feeling the top of my humerus. Since I was nearly due for my first post-treatment mammo he sent me off for that plus armpit u/s, which was last week.
Person who did u/s said I had 2 glands enlarged on the left (non bc side) but that they often go up and down due to infections and just take time. I don’t have an infection to the best of my knowledge. She used the word glands not nodes so I was left to figure out that they were the same on the way home. While I was there she also did u/s of the right armpit (which wasn’t on the schedule), but said she couldn’t see anything bad on the mammos or u/s. I feel lumpy in the right armpit too now and I can’t remember if she said she could see those up too or not.
I know from experience that they lie… I am fully expecting to go into the cons appt this Wednesday and be told that it’s nothing to worry about but, hey, let’s send you for a full body scan anyway… hohoho…
I can’t stop feeling that it’s not normal for the nodes to be enlarged for weeks on end and I believe it must now be 6-7 weeks since I first noticed the lumpiness.
Hope I’m just paranoid but can’t help feeling this is the beginning of the end.
mousy, who had just been starting to feel a bit more perky, give or take the lingering right arm ache and the pain in the left foot and had taken up geocaching…
Big Hugs to you…Hope it all turns out to be nothing.x.x.x.
Hi Mousy -It’s just awful isn’t it, that because of having had breast cancer, every time we have any swelling or ache or pain our mind inevitably goes rushing along to the worst scenario and that we can go from being cheerful to predicting our own demise. I am so sorry that you are in that place right now, and I know from your posting that this has made you really low and frightened, which I completely understand. Thank goodness the time is nearly here for you to see the consultant and to know what is going on. From what you have written, this enlargement really could be from some low grade infection, even if you didn’t get any symptoms of being unwell. I will be keeping everything crossed for you that that is the outcome. Please write and let us know. Will be thinking of you - good luck. Love Sarah x
Well, I’m back… and very angry indeed…
I’ve just waited almost 2 hrs for a 12:30 appointment and had to give up and come home for the school run without actually seeing a doctor. The Royal South Hants Wednesday clinics are a total joke. This is far from the first time they’ve done that to me.
So I’m in the dark until next Wednesday. At least my younger son will be away at his grandparents and I won’t have the added strain of trying to entertain a 3yo in a waiting room for 2 hrs. To his credit though he was very well behaved this week.
And at least next weeks appointment is a couple of hours earlier, so *surely* I can get to see a real live doctor next time…
mousy
PS Should I write in to complain and request a refund of my £3 parking charge?
Mousy
Yes, you should write and complain if this is not a one-off. They should understand and acknowledge the impact that late clinic has had on you. All that hanging around, then having to leave before your turn and wait another week is going to leave you keyed up for another 7 days and that is not fair. Please protest … and please try to stay perky, easier said than done I know.
Best wishes
Yeah Mousy you should complain but here’s a suggestion if I may.
Try and be as constructive as possible, ie say things like what has happened and what you would like done.
Eg you would like your appointments as early as possible to avoid any further unnecessary waiting.
I was a confusing case and had to have several fine needle aspirations and 3 biopsies before I was diagnosed and after my 4th trip I was starting to to get really weary of tests and waiting, they noticed this and were really sweet by making sure I got as early an appointment as possible by the 4th round, 1st of the day. Sadly after 2 lots of tests more the answer was final, yep cancer, but I really felt that they had made an effort and it sounds like you are having the opposite experience.
Maybe you could talk to your breast care nurse too and see if she can maybe have a word on your behalf to make sure the next visit is fast and efficient.
It’s still worth asking for the parking monies back but I also think it’s often better to ask for something to make up for being let down than just to complain if you know what I mean.
Hope you get the answers you need soon and hope it’s just a wimpy little infection that’s hanging around rather that something more serious.
Finally got to see the doc. He says he’s happy that the reason for the swelling is not cancer because that looks much different on the ultrasound. He said he’s not concerned if they’re swollen for a long period of time. It only counts what they look like in the snaps.
My next check up is in six months… GULP
Since planning a mid year mammo seems to have created a furore I have decided that it will be a mid year ultrasound, boob and armpit (private if they aren’t offering one, which I assume they won’t without a specific reason).
mousy
Mousy - so sorry that you feel you are being neglected. Also feel the same. I’ve waited for over 2 hours to be seen on that wednesday clinic - once with a migraine so bad that I hid under my coat for 2 hours!!
You shouldn’t be paying £3 for parking, you go down to the info office and show your appointment card and you pay £1 like you do at the General.
I think you should ask for a needle biopsy as from my experience, the radiologists have been wrong twice now about what they think they see and what the FNAs revealed. Ask your GP to rerefer you back to the onc and be specific which of them you want to see.
Complain but in a constructive way - met the union reps on tuesday when I was waiting for the results of my CT scan and he said that the Chief Exec of the hospital Trust personally reads all of his emails so google the hospital and it will give you an email address of someone - anybody will do to find out the bit after the @ and then all you need to do, is find the chief exec’s name which is highlighted on the blurb about the hospital and send an email. So for me it would be 'dippy.kate@ hospital name.nhs.uk etc or something like that.
Not at all well at mo so can’t really help you more than the above but sure you can manage that.
Kate