I had a lymph node biopsy on the 30th May and have been patiently awaiting the results since. I phone up every Monday to see if the results have been received yet, and so today the receptionist decided to phone the lab to follow up on it, as it's been 7 weeks. She called me back after having spoken to a lab technician and advised that the reason it was taking so long was because my sample was currently in a lab in America?! I've never heard of this before. Is it fairly common practice for the NHS to send samples to other countries labs? Could it be because of the backlog? Or something more sinister such as I have a rare type of lymphoma that requires a specialist lab in America to identify? I was advised previously that my sample was being sent to a specialist lymphoma lab in the UK but it now being in America is surprising news to me.
If anyone has any experience of anything like this I'd love to know!
Thanks.