I’m posting on behalf of my mum. She was diagnosed in Feb with a triple positive IDC 35 mm with no lymph involvement (per scan). She completed 6 cycles of THCP chemo and at the beginning of August had a lumpectomy with sentinel node biopsy, which thankfully she’s healing from nicely.
She was told at the time that she would have a surgical follow-up two weeks after her op. Three weeks on and she hasn’t heard a thing and has just had to chase them. It’s making her (and me) really anxious because everything else has been done super quickly.
We’re in the South-East of England, and I wondered if anyone anyone else has experienced a delay in surgery results? I’m wondering if it’s due to the summer holidays but some of her friends have said ‘no news is good news’ but I don’t think it works like that in the good ole NHS!
I just don’t want to lull myself into a false sense of security - isn’t it horrible waiting for news.
I’m in the West Midlands. I was told 2-3 weeks but follow up appointment would be 3 weeks to be sure they’d be in. Well they still weren’t in, my appointment should have been yesterday. The nurse said she would ring me Friday afternoon with the results as they have MDT in the morning, all being well they’ve come through this week. But yes it’s been longer than originally they thought it would be. The breast care nurses have told me the length of time is no indication of anything, good or bad, they just come through when it’s been done. As you say I don’t think it’s a case of no news is good news. Hopefully not much longer for any of us now!
I had my WLE & ANC in April and was told my results would be back at 4 weeks. They weren’t back and was then told the following week, but then they hadn’t been discussed at MDT so it ended up being 6 weeks. I’m in the East Midlands and this was the only time anything has been delayed x
I had surgery back in June and I was warned at the time it could be 6 weeks for all the results to be in - sometimes the delay is due to how busy the pathology teams are, time of year, if other types of results have to come back from say, America if Oncotype DX testing is needed, a whole host of variables. The MDT understandably has to have everything back before they can have a tailored treatment plan ready. I’m in the far East of England, and in the end it was 5.5 weeks for me and my results from the initial scans and biopsies were different from my actual final tumour pathology results and test scores. Waiting for results can be one of the hardest bits of this weird old journey we’re all on, hang on in there x
Fingers crossed everything is OK for you - my mum has had a couple of appointments moved forward during her treatment and I agree that’s also nerve-wracking. A magic ball would be nice sometimes x
I think this is all part of the ‘experience’ (if it’s ok to call it that). You get an urgent appt and that sets alarm bells ringining. You don’t get an appt and you start wondering if all is OK when the truth is, the results come in, when they come in and there’s simply no way of knowing until you’re sat in front of that surgeon/oncologist.
Good luck for your results when you get them, keeping things crossed for you x
I think this is part of the anxiety - Mum has had her treatment and she’s waiting to find out if they had clear margins and whether there was any lymph node involvement, so it does seem strange to be waiting this long. It feels like we’re waiting for the diagnosis all over again
She’s got an appointment for next week now, so I’ve just got to keep calm until then! (My mum is actually ok, it’s me that freaks out!) x
Hello, I am in East Anglia. My first post surgery results were moved back by 1 week ( from 5 weeks to 6) My second results were moved forward from 4 weeks to 3, but the HER2 results were still outstanding and I was phoned a week later. I asked one of the Oncology consultants, how long results were usually taking and she said anything between 4 weeks and 11 weeks in our area! If your sample is given to a pathologist who goes on holiday, it has to wait for their return, so as we are in the summer holiday season, timings do fluctuate and there is no sinister significance, so please don’t worry if there is a bit of a delay.
