Waiting for biopsy results - one month now!

Hi all. I am the daughter of newly diagnosed stage 4 nsclc patient (lung cancer) and my poor mum has been waiting for her biopsy results for 4 weeks now. Is this normal?! The hospital are chasing the lab every day but with every week that goes by we are getting more and more anxious as we were originally told it would be up to 10 days. 

feeling really helpless and this is preventing us from booking her first appointment with the oncologist and getting a treatment plan which is having a huge negative effect on her mental health. Her macmillan nurses are being great but it’s not really the point if we are stuck waiting to speak to a doctor. 

any advice welcome. Is anyone else in the same boat? (To clarify, we had her results a week later but this is the extra sample that got sent away for testing for genetic mutations / biomarkers etc) 

  • Hello Daughterofdiane

    I'm sorry to hear about your Mum's diagnosis. It's obviously a very worrying time for you all and natural that you want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible with appointments. 

    We know that sometimes when initial biopsy results are returned and further testing is requested, as in your Mum's case, this means people are left waiting a while longer before treatment options can be discussed. It's good to hear that the hospital team has been supportive in chasing these results for your Mum and hopefully she will have some news soon. 

    In the meantime you might want to consider getting in touch with the hospital PALS team. It's part of their role to escalate these kinds of problems and help resolve concerns or problems when you're using the NHS. 

    Once again, I do hope you have some news soon. Let us know how she gets on. 

    Best wishes, 
    Jenn
    Cancer Chat moderator