Telephone results vs face to face

Hi, anxiety is through the roof. Referred to breast clinic in February for discolouration and some dimpling and pain. After using cream for 2 weeks for possible dermatitis, consultant decided on punch biopsy to rule out IBC but was optimistic and said if benign, results would be given over the phone and this is also stated on my letter.

That was 3 weeks ago, team met yesterday and I got a phone call asking me to come in Friday morning for face to face. I'm now so worried and anxious.

Has anyone been called back in for face to face and everything been OK even though was expecting telephone results? 

  • Yes.

    I’ve had two different types of cancer scare. The first was a false alarm ten years before the second but both were face to face. 
    Even if the news is good, everyone has lots of questions.

    Good luck!
    Dave

  • Hi Sussexgirl82 I wanted to wish you luck today with your appointment.  I was given the results of cancer diagnosis over the telephone so there doesn't seem to be any logical way that they tell you.  Good luck and fingers crossed for today.

  • Sorry to hear you've been having these worries. I guess you are getting the resutls today so this might be too late, but yes, I was called in for face-to-face when I was expecting a telephone appointment. In my case, it was a year after I was treated for thyroid cancer and it was sort of the final scan to be sure all the treatment had worked. I was told they'd call me with the results, then I got a letter for a face to face appointment. I freaked, thinking they MUST surely have found something.

    I called them up myself and...they said it was 100% clear.

    My mother, on the other hand, was supposed to get a face to face appointment, but the consultant called her. She missed the original call. My brother answered and he said he'd call back. We thought it couldn't be that serious if he was phoning, but it turned out he wanted to tell her she had cancer.

    So you can't really tell from how the information is given.

  • Offline in reply to leelaloo

    Hi,

    That really is appalling and is very much counter to best practice guidelines which take into account the patient’s wellbeing. 

    I feel so cross on your behalf. 

    Best wishes
    Dave

  • Offline in reply to davek

    Hi Dave,  thank you.  Not only did they tell me it was cancer but stage 4 cancer and it is incurable.  I feel let down by doctors as I was told the two tumors in my pelvis were benign firstly and they were just left and now it has spread.  Hope you are doing okay.

    Lee

  • Offline in reply to leelaloo

    Hi Lee,

    That is awful - it’s bad enough receiving that news face to face with a surgeon and a cancer nurse to answer your questions. Over the phone is a blatant breach of best practice - perhaps understandable at the height of Covid.

    You’d be in your rights to make a formal complain in writing to their Medical Director. He/she would pass it onto PALS but if you send it to PALS first, the Director may never see it. . 

    I was diagnosed as incurable at stage 4 in 2013, but unexpectedly I went into remission a couple of years after chemo. No-one can explain how that happened. I keep expecting it to come back but so far it hasn’t.

    Good luck.
    Dave

  • I am so stunned by this,I almost don't know what to say ,one thing I will say though is I would not have let this go ,I agree with Davek I hope like him you live a long symptom free life x