lumpy liver

ive posted on this forum semi recently, but with everything going on with my health at the moment, I just needed a place to vent :confused:

i saw my gp back in jan for unexplained bruising all over my abdomen and arms, and since then my life's kind of tipped over 

my blood test results came back as abnormal (unsurprisingly) but in particular, my ALP & ESR were very high for my age (im 19) and im now also apparently anemic, and my full blood count came back as borderline except for my MCV and transferrin which were low

shortly after finding out those test results, i found a lump on the upper right quadrant of my abdomen, right on top of my liver. it's pretty big, hard and non mobile, and causes me a lot of pain. the bruising is pretty bad around that area too.

pretty much instantly after i found it, i called my gp for an urgent appointment. i saw a nurse practitioner who I've know for a while, and he said it definitely doesn't seem like an acute or easily fixable problem. he felt my liver lump, and told me that it was too deep into the body for it to be a fatty lump. he felt two smaller pea sized ones near the main one which were still painful and hard.

he did tell me that i might be one of the 10% of people with a palpable liver, but i won't know for certain unless i get a scan

i have somatic symptom disorder, so im pretty much in and out of the doctors every few months. i have blood tests fairly often and so he compared my new results to my past ones and told me that they seem to be getting worse

he's referred me for ANOTHER set of blood tests (I think my doctors are secretly vampires :wink:), and if they're still this abnormal when the results come back then i have to go for a scan to see what's going on

but then he also said he didn't want to refer me for a scan because he doesn't want the radiation to damage my fertility? :confused:

the pain from my abdomen has spread up to my lungs and chest and ive started feeling really breathless, so my gp has brought forward my blood test date so i can be seen and assessed quicker 

im sorry for such a long post, i just feel at my wits end with it all. i feel like im too young to have anything so sinister, but once you hear the words "abnormal" and "lumps" your brain immediately just jumps to the worst case scenario :(

thank you for reading if you did :happy: i feel much better now that this is all off of my chest 

 

  • Hello elfzx

    I'm sorry to hear that you have quite a few ongoing health concerns to manage and that now more recently you've discovered this lump. It's understandable that you're feeling anxious about things and what the cause could be for all your symptoms. 

    It sounds like you have a supportive GP surgery and it's good to hear that they've been monitoring your bloods and will refer you for further investigations if they feel it's necessary. 

    It might help to reassure you that primary liver cancer is uncommon cancer in the UK. I can understand why you're concerned that cancer may be responsible for your symptoms but there could be any number of other causes so for now try to think positively about things. You might find it helpful to look at this page that the NHS has produced which gives some good advice and tips for managing health anxiety. 

    If you'd like to chat things through with one of our nurses you're welcome to call them on 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm for some advice and support. 

    I hope that you have some answers soon. 

    Best wishes, 
    Jenn
    Cancer Chat moderator