Lung nodules and bone lesion found because I insisted on ct...learned my lesson [Archive]

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andrea15

27-05-13, 21:56

My story is a valuable lesson for HA sufferers.
I had a ct in Feb which found a small nodule in each lung and a lesion on one of my vertebrae. I am terrified they are mets from cancer but I have no symptoms of a primary cancer apart from indigestion quite often.
My dr is not concerned it is mets and I have to rescan the nodules in a month to check for growth.
Should I trust my gp when she says shes not concerned?
I have terrible HA and always think 'this time its cancer and the drs will be wrong'.
I have paid for numerous tests and I cant afford any more.
The ct scan was only done at my insistence and now I have all this worry I wish I had never had it done. This is the downside to insisting on investigations that the drs think are unnecessary.

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this?

Please all of you, dont push for unnecessary tests as you may end up like me and suffer months of anxiety.

kirstynic

27-05-13, 22:20

Hi

The doctors know what to look for on a scan and if they were worried would not be waiting a month. My dad has Lung cancer and a X-ray clearly showed it was this he also has new nodules that showed on last ct scan and again the doctor suspects new cancer spots and offered chemo. I know it's easier said then done but try to relax.

I know how hard that is though :( xxx

andrea15

27-05-13, 22:50

It was suggested I go 4months to check for growth. That was by radiologist. I hope if they were suspicious for metastases they wouldnt leave it 4 months

Sorry to hear about your Dad. Thanks for replying

angrry

28-05-13, 01:01

I had a similar thing last year andrea....no lung nodules but an xray found a lesion on one of my vertebrae...it was classified as a bone island...still scared the hell out of me...yours is likely something like that

Munchlet

28-05-13, 09:06

Hi

Sorry to hear you are having added anxiety.

I think it's very difficult for anyone with HA not to push for tests as you want that piece of reassurance no matter how brief it is.

I was actually reading a piece about this in a book the other day and it said that with people with HA they push for so many tests the law of averages says they are more likely to get a false positive or for the test to pick something up which isn't a problem but it adds more anxiety having to have other tests to rule it out.

I'm sure your doctor is right, they usually are, we just unfortunately think they aren't because that is in our nature.

He also wouldn't be leaving you anytime if he thought for one minute it was mets.

Thanks for sharing xx

andrea15

28-05-13, 09:54

Thanks for reply. I so wish Id not insisted on ct scan. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

Seeing a different gp today. See if they are concerned

andrea15

28-05-13, 15:13

Gp I saw today said not concerned from ct report that lesion is anything malignant. Spoke to my gp too and shes angry I insisted on ct scan. She said 'I bet you wish you never started this now?' She's right of course but I wish I could get some reassurance. Another month of this will be horrendous. Im living a nightmare at the moment.
Having loads of blood tests done Monday. Hopefully they will all be ok. Surely something in bloods would be out if I had metastatic cancer?

zippy

28-05-13, 15:22

This is what i keep telling myself because i have had 18 vials of blood took lately and i keep thinking if i had cancer something would show up in my red or white blood cells. I am sure yours will be ok. I wish we could just trust our Drs and not always think the worst.

andrea15

28-05-13, 16:51

I have bad pain in lower back now. Worried these are more lesions

almamatters

28-05-13, 17:40

I agree that pushing for tests is fuelling anxiety, I have been for tests and seriously wish I had, not as the waiting for results etc just makes my HA a lot worse. You would not be left for 4 months if it was suspected you had metastatic cancer , people I know have been contacted and taken in the same week or even day. I have asked my GP numerous times about blood tests showing cancer that has spread and she said that while there is not a single blood test that shows cancer (apart for a couple of specific cancers) if you had metastatic cancer there would be an indication in your bloods. I trusted her word for this after a long time worrying about it. I have paid for tests in the past against the doctors advice and have always ended up looking a bit of an idiot when they have either come back clear up shown non serious things. My abdo ultrasound which I insisted on, showed a lump on my liver which has been diagnosed as benign but I still worry it's malignant, I might not ever had known I had this without the scan , I insisted on and have saved myself a lot of worry about what it actually is. Take Care.

andrea15

28-05-13, 20:41

andrea15

29-05-13, 18:16

My gp has said these things are unlikely to be mets due to the coincidental way they were found. She said the radiologist would have said if they were suspicious for mets and she would be rushing me off for more tests if she was concerned.

almamatters

29-05-13, 18:42

I will see what happens with bloods next week. Dr refused to contemplate bone scan or bringing ct forward. Its just Im so impatient for answers.

---------- Post added at 20:41 ---------- Previous post was at 19:23 ----------

Thank you almamatters. I hope you are right about the bloods. Mine have been ok so far. Last ones were in January. Hope Mondays ones are ok. Gp said the gp who requested them (not my usual gp) has requested practically everything.

Hi Andrea, I am no expert and the bloods thing is what my GP told me when I was visiting weekly last year as I was convinced I had a terminal illness that was not showing up in blood tests. It sounds as though your GP is not too worried about you and radiologists know what they are looking for.