Possible Thyroid Cancer??

In late September, a lump appeared on my neck and grew very rapidly over the course of a few hours, my GP instructed me to go straight to A&E where after seven hours of struggling to breathe and swallow they told me it was a throat infection and to go home. Early October my GP managed to get me an appointment in ENT, where I was put on the suspected head and neck cancer pathway. I had an ultrasound and biopsy in mid October that showed 5.5cm nodule on right thyroid, and biopsy came back as thy 3a, inconclusive. Since then I've been into A&E three times for breathing and swallowing issues, as well as dealing with other symptoms, and had another biopsy on the 8th December, for which I still haven't had any results for. Do the results taking so long mean its more likely to be bad news? I know its the holiday season but its been 26 days and my last results came back in 10 days. 

  • I wouldn't think so. I can't see why bad news would take any longer than good news. When I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I got the results a week after the biopsy and they clearly knew two days before that, because I got a phone call asking me to get the scan I'd had done sent on to them (the fun of our health care system here in Ireland where so many things are run privately). It's more likely to just be due to people being on holiday, out sick, etc.

  • Hi Chelsea,

    I'm sorry to hear that you have had such a long wait for results. This is probably due to the holiday period. Why don't you phone your consultant's secretary and tell her how long it has been and how anxious you are. She should be able to chase this up for you.

    Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

    Kind regards,

    Jolamine xx

  • Ive called radiology, they told me general surgery referred me and to speak to them, called general surgery and they said everythings going through ent and to call them, called ent and they said to call general surgery, so kind of at a loss at who to go to as everybodys sending me in circles

  • Hi Chloe,

    This sounds totally unacceptable. Why not call ENT again tomorrow and tell them about the run around that you've been given and ask that they find out who is in charge of your case, along with when you might get some results. This time ask for the actual name of the consultant and what his specialism is. Once you've got this, you can contact his/her secretary and get things moving.

    If you don't get anywhere with ENT , you may need to get back to general surgery, as results are usually returned to the consultant who sent them away. You may need to be quite firm and don't let them fob you off.

    Kind regards,

    Jolamine xx