I went to work as usual this morning, but then had (to me) a very frightening text from my GP, which said:
‘The result of your recent test has been received. Please make a telephone appointment with a doctor within two weeks’
I was terrified by this at first, and asked my manager (and this will sound stupid) if I could go straight to my doctors in the hope of seeing someone there and then.
My manager agreed, and when I got there I was told that there was no-one I could see there and then, but I have now booked an appointment for tomorrow afternoon.
I asked the receptionist if she could tell me anything, but of course she said she couldn’t, though she said the only reason they ask someone to book an appointment within two weeks is that a surprising number of people wouldn’t bother unless they were specifically asked to call by the surgery, and the process would simply go on hold if that were the case. The receptionist also added that if there was something serious, the doctor would call the patient, and not leave it to the patient to call them, which they may or may not do depending on the measure of their concern.
There was a further easing of the situation, too, as when I got home, and re-read that the text actually only requested that I make a telephone appointment, and not a face to face consultation with my GP. This, too, made me think that the doctors are not operating out of a sense of any urgency or worry, even though I was initially out of my mind at the swift response from the surgery today.
Would people say I’m reading this correctly now, and would I be right in the assumptions that I’m making as regards the nature and type of the contact today?
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Kellan38
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Relax. If urgent Doc would have you in straight away and any bad news would not be considered over the phone.
I'd bloods done for GGT one afternoon & the norm would be ring the treatment room in 5 days for results.
Very next day Doc rang me to get my arse in pronto so I did. My bloods through the roof. Ordered me to go from the Practice direct to Hospital for detox.
Good news. All your results are normal. Bad news. Can't find anything wrong with you.
I wonder if they will be resurrecting Till death us do part. If they do I would like to audition forAlf's part............I'm the natural choice for that role.🤣🤣🤣🤣
Graham. you really have to stop overthinking everything.
It's not good for your mental wellbeing, just save up your worrying for when you have something to worry about😊
Hi Graham,
Im regards to the text and taking my personal experience with my gp surgery. I would agree with the receptionist, when my bloods or other tests showed anything serious my gp phoned me , their response time is very quick. I wouldn't worry if asked to make phone consultation. That is all personal to my experience and health issues though.
I am glad you managed to get a appointment earlier for your own sake as you need to hear from doctor sooner rather than later. I get the impression you are a someone who worries and waiting would cause you more anxiety.
Thank you for your reply. The worry is very real to me, but I feel assured now that bad news would not have been delivered over the telephone, so I am feeling happier now despite my initial anxiety.
Just a quick comment, please consider this as coming from a place of concern for you, I am speaking from fairly recent experience. Do not let your manager in on any more of your health concerns, bosses tend to use those to get rid of people in favor of younger, cheaper labor who may have less concerns. Hope you get good news soon and can put this all behind you!
Hi Graham, I've had the urgent response that read "Please contact the office of Dr. Smith immediately to book a follow-up appointment." I've also had "Dr. Smith will be calling you at this number at 2pm regarding your test results." Those were urgent. When they say 'call for an appointment within 2 weeks that is just a maintenance path check. Here's your results, looking good, see you in 6 weeks." type of thing. So go and have a cup of tea, take a deep breath and let go of worry.
Cheers, Liz
Hi
At my surgery if they contact me to make a telephone consultation, I know it's not urgent, if they say, can you come in now, I panic!! Hope all goes well tomorrow. Lynne
Hi GrahamB8 Just to wish you all the best with your results when you get them. You'll feel better once you know where you are and it's good you've got an appointment so quickly.
My disappointing experience was to be told, over the phone, by a surgery receptionist, that I had PBC. Not great by any means. Was followed up the next day by a call from my GP, but is definitely not the way anyone should be given a diagnosis of something serious. Especially given that he knew very little about the condition, so there was quite a worrying time.
Many thanks for your kind concern, and for taking the time to write to me as you have.
I’m so sorry for what happened to you as regards the nature and delivery of your call, and I hope most of all that your health is currently on the mend.
I’ve now posted the results of my tests on this page, and I hope you can find them and read them in your own time.
Regards and thanks again for getting in touch with me
If this was urgent you wouldn't receive a text message, the Dr would have called you and asked you to come to the surgery.
When my blood test results came back to my Dr and the markers were extremely high on CA125 I was asked to come in immediately. I was then tested under the 2ww suspected cancer.
Similarly I have received a text message and letter about ultrasound scans that have asked me to call my Dr in a fortnight. The onus is then on you to ensure you receive your results instead of staff having to chase up every patient that hasn't received their results for whatever scan/test they had taken.
From your posts before it sounds as if you suffer from a heightened level of anxiety. You were very worried about a pain in your right side and despite negative test results and assurances from Drs you still suspected liver issues. From reading that personally I would love to have been in your position but I'm not and like many of the lovely people on here I have to deal with the fact that I have cirrhosis amongst other things and get on with my life.
I would at least speak to your Dr if you haven't already about anxiety - I do wish you luck with that as it is a tough & sometimes debilitating condition (take it from someone who knows!) Xx
Many thanks for your very informative message, and for reminding me of how incredibly some people can be in the the face of such a terrifying diagnosis.
I sincerely wish that I was half the man that you are, but I’m not, though rest assured that my stated respect for you is genuine, and from the heart.
I’m almost ashamed to post my own report, as I’ve done today, but it’s there for anyone who cares to read it, and it does seem that I probably might be OK.
Regards and many thanks again for getting in touch
I now have the results of all tests that were recently carried out on me to test my liver, and am happy to post them below for your attention. Please note that I thought I had already posted these once, but as I couldn’t find them when I looked, then it seems that may not have been the case, hence this second posting.
.........
I’ve seen the doctor again this afternoon, and he went through all the test results with me and generally said everything was fine.
The only explanation he could give for the current pains I’m having in my side was the possibility of a gallstone. He said this fits all descriptions of the pain and discomfort I’m having, but he said we’d know more when I’d been back to have another ultrasound test in a couple of weeks.
You may remember me saying that I’d made the mistake of eating around 3 hours before my last test, and this had caused some slight problems in that the picture they were getting was slightly cloudy because of that, so they said they’d book me another appointment to have them checked again.
As regards my liver, he confirmed that all the angles that they did the blood tests on were absolutely fine, and that the physical examination, the ultrasound and the X-ray all showed that it’s working perfectly well with no concerns at all.
I told him I’d been really scared that I’d developed cirrhosis, but he said “You definitely haven’t”, although he said I do have a slight amount of fat in my liver, but said that’s a condition in common with many people of my age , though not all are formally diagnosed, and provided I start to work hard to maintain a healthy diet, then I should be perfectly fine.
I fully realise that there are a fair number of people on our forum who would still be extremely sceptical about me not having cirrhosis, but I can only go on the feedback and the information that my GP gives, and I just hope that I’m not judged to be playing it fast and loose with my health by daring to believe what my GP says.
I’ve had had a whirlwind round of GP and hospital visits, medical tests and scans and proddings of every kind in these last few weeks, and all against a backdrop of emotions wildly distorted by trying to judge the state of my health through the insane hall of mirrors that health anxiety puts you through, so I might now just sit down and listen to my beloved Brahms and let the world look after itself for once whilst I try a cup of that new coffee that I bought myself last night...
No stone unturned to date. That's the only Grey area I've read. The rest is in Black & White. 🤔👍
Not at all your just reading between the lines. The cloudy picture on your gallbladder is a grey area to be re done & clarify if there's a stone present which may be the cause of the pain. Rest of your results are fine, normal This is documented in black & white ink/paper.
Many thanks for your reply, I certainly didn't want you to feel in any way ashamed to post your update!
I'm really pleased to hear that you haven't developed cirrhosis and you have been given thorough assurances by your GP. I understand your scepticism in believing everything when you were experiencing pain in the liver area but I hope you now can move forward from this.
It must have been a worrying time for you - you said its health anxiety, I do hope that listening to Brahms and sampling your new coffee helps you to wind down tonight
I am so, so sorry, all, but I have to report another frightening setback earlier today. I posted this elsewhere, but with hindsight it’s probably better here:
.........
I went to see my GP yesterday for the results of some recent tests (ultrasound, X-ray and specific and full blood counts, and was given a very good report, with no expressed concerns on the part of the doctor.
As a result of this, my day was going pretty well this morning at work, when suddenly the pains in the URHQ suddenly flared up again, and were worse than I’ve ever known them before.
I felt all the hope from my visit to my GP yesterday drain right out of me almost in an instant, and felt a terrible sense of shock that this had happened just when I was started to feel I was seeing a little bit of forward movement in my mood. The symptoms have settled down a little tonight, but the memory of the shock of their sudden return is now lodged deeply in my head as a shocking new fear.
I’m now fearing cancer again - either of the liver or the pancreas or the gallbladder - and have virtually convinced myself that I’ve got it just when I was starting to see a way through all my fears. I can’t imagine how the soreness I was experiencing this dinner time could be in any way benign, and I can only hope against hope that I am wrong.
Nope, cancer is so unlikely particularly the ones you fear. Have you experienced drastic--and I mean drastic weight loss? Gone yellow? Cancer in the liver tends to be silent until the very end but your tests would have revealed any anomalies. Now clear your mind and repeat "I am strong" again and again. Cup of tea, deep breath and soldier on my friend. We all convince ourselves from time to time of the worst case scenario. I had breast cancer which is how I got to cirrhosis (via the treatment) and sometimes I find myself wondering which will kill me first a return of cancer or my liver failing and in those moments I pull up my big girl pants and live in the now. I am monitored like you and have bloods done monthly and will deal with any anomalies if and when they pop up but for now I take comfort and pride in knowing that my hard work to stay well is paying off. Don't worry about what might happen. Celebrate what is. Your pain has eased and your tests are normal. Cheers, Liz
I apologize for not saying this before on my original message, but have just read through our previous despatches and I'm amazed at what you've been through and yet have still managed to stay so strong.
To even take it to the point where you (like so many others on this wonderful resource) are so willing to help others is an enormous credit to you, and it would be remiss of me not to say that, or to say 'thank you' yet again for all your help.
I've tried so hard to calm myself down today and, I have to say, some of the attempts have been quite successful (which was a big surprise to me).
I only felt my first real pains today around half an hour ago (at around 1.30pm), but I found (and this was the surprise) that when I tried to talk myself out of the panic, then the pains gently eased away.
I do hope some of this, therefore, could be as a result of my inner panic, as I'm not sure any real and genuine pain from cancer would be quite so amenable to my suggestions to behave, but that silly little inner voice still tries tell me that I could be wrong...
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