I know people tell you never to Google medical issues however I found this forum last week and some of the posts have helped me so much, I thought I would post in case anyone is going through a similar situation to myself.

Last week I found a lump on my neck. It feels pretty big and is to the middle of my neck, slightly to my left. I rang my GP practice and they asked me to come down straight away to be seen. I was seen by a Dr within 30 minutes of making my telephone call.  The Dr confirmed the lump and said she believed it was linked to my Thyroid. She did some urgent blood tests and told me to call in the afternoon, 2 days later when the results would be available. I asked her whether she thought I had anything to worry about. She confirmed she wasn’t concerned as I had no other symptoms, apart from the lump I was physically fine. I do get tired from time to time but I’m a busy person so I just put this down to my lifestyle, I was never worried about this.

2 days later, in the morning, I received a call from my local hospital to arrange an appointment with an ENT Consultant. I asked if this meant my blood tests had come back clear but the hospital confirmed they had no knowledge of any blood tests but that my GP had sent them an urgent referral to an ENT specialist.  This was the first time I started to worry- my GP never mentioned a referral to me.

After speaking with the hospital I called my GP Practice and was told my blood tests had come back clear. I asked if I could speak with the Dr who ran the tests but she was unavailable so I couldn’t ask her about the referral.

Not long after I had put the phone down and finished speaking with my GP I had a further, second call, from the hospital. This time they were calling to arrange an urgent ultrasound scan on the basis that the ENT consultant would probably recommend a scan, so they were hoping they could arrange this to take place, before the ENT appointment.

I therefore now had a scan due to take place on 07/04/2023 and an ENT appointment on 13/04/2023

I attended the scan and asked the technician whether he could tell me anything about the results. He told me he had scanned all of my neck and he couldn’t see anything too worrying, there were no other lumps or swellings, but there was a large cyst attached to my thyroid. He confirmed I would need to wait for the ENT appointment “to confirm what stage the cyst is at.”

As at today, 11/04/2023, I thought I was now just waiting for the ENT appointment but I received another call from the hospital- this time to arrange a fine needle biopsy to remove some fluid/tissue from the cyst. This has been booked for 17/04/2023.

Whilst I honestly think the NHS are amazing for how fast all my appointments have been, I can’t help but worry about this! Is there a reason they are arranging them to fast.  As my GP didn’t tell me about the referral and as the ultrasound technician didn’t mention a biopsy, I can’t help but feel that things are being kept from me, which is worrying me even more.

I’m 32 and I have a 5 year old.  The only person who knows about this situation is my partner as I decided I didn’t want anyone else to know as it would only create worry for them. When I find anything out, they will be told but for now, I want to save people worrying. We’re trying to keep everything between us as normal as possible so our daughter doesn’t pick up on any anxiety but it’s so hard when it’s all you can think about.

To add to the stress, we’re due to marry in 13 weeks having been planning our wedding for 18 months. It’s my hen do 10 days after the biopsy (20 girls off to Tenerife) and I want to enjoy my hen do, and wedding, without worrying about test results or “what it” situations.

Is anyone else going through the same thing? I’m worried about the biopsy procedure, I’m worried about the results, I’m worried about the fact of how fast everything seems to be happening, and I’m worrying that I don’t seem to be being told anything!