Scan results sooner than expected?

Hi, my dad has stage 4 bowel cancer. Has had surgery in Jan 24 to remove bowel tumour and had chemotherapy. Scans so far have shown a reduction in all tumours and most recent scan showed lungs were stable and liver had reduced again. Dad had another scan 20/11/24 and was told it could be up to 6 weeks before hearing and it may be a phone call. We have been called today to come to the hospital on Tuesday for a face to face. Is this normal? I am worried it is bad news as we are hearing sooner than expected. 

  • I don't think you can really make any guesses based on how soon you hear or how the news is given to you. It's possible it's bad news. It's also possible it's really good and they don't want to leave him worrying when they could give him reassurance. And more likely is that it is unrelated to what the news is and is simply that they got a cancellation or the results came back sooner than expected.

    Some examples. After I had thyroid cancer, I had a whole body scan to be sure there was no cancer left. I was told the doctor would phone with the results, then got a letter calling me in for an appointment. I freaked. Nobody had even suggested the possibility of any follow-up appointment so I was sure they'd found something. Nope. It was just 2021 and they decided to move to doing more in-person as the pandemic was easing. More recently, my mum underwent a number of tests and was told they'd make an appointment for her to come in for the results in about two weeks. Instead the doctor phoned. She missed the call and he didn't phone back again for two days. We all assumed it was probably just something like letting her know when the appointment would be or asking for her doctor's details because they'd hardly give news about cancer over the phone. In fact, I was secretly hoping it might be that no cancer was found, as it seemed possible he might not want to leave her waiting for good news. No, he phoned and told her it was bowel cancer with liver mets.

    So there isn't really any pattern. A lot of it depends, I think, on their schedule too and sometimes whether results are available.

  • Hello and thanks for posting

    Individual hospitals can vary in the way their patients receive their results. I presume the hospital was just informing your dad that the wait for his scan results could take up to 6 weeks,so that he doesn’t overly worry about the wait. But sometimes the results are ready within a couple of weeks.

    I know it’s easier said than done but try not to worry too much until you both know more

    Please get back to us if you need any more information or support. You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

    Best wishes,

    Celene