Hi Murf,

Got my results for the Ultrasound last week and all clear. Have been keeping well, feeling positive and enjoying life

How are you doing? Any further forward? Have been thinking about you.

X

Hi Flo,

So lovely to hear from you and delighted that everything is ok and you're enjoying life - life is so very precious isn't it.  I've just come back from a week's holiday in south Wales.  It was great to enjoy some time by the coast.  Everything ok with me too - colonoscopy biopsies were all fine and nothing sinister from the polyps that were removed.  Thankfully we can both now put all that awful worrying time behind us and hopefully continue to enjoy life to its fullest.  

Take care Flo.  Xxx

Hi

I’m 53.   Not had a period for 20months...last proper one was 2 years ago.   3 weeks ago my boobs started swelling and were tender and sore...just under 2 weeks ago felt like a period was about to start...yesterday I bled...today I bled a lot...boobs getting better.

I tried to send an online urgent request to speak to my doctor yesterday morning but no reply, SO, I tried to phone them this morning but the answer message said going to cut you off because no room left on phone system call back. So on and so forth. Phone 101, who were fab...they said get to the drop in centre within 2 hours to see a doctor.  I arrived at the drop in centre, couldn’t see doctor saw a nurse...she phoned consultant gynaecologist at hospital who said I needed an urgent referal and to contact my doctor! Said to nurse I’ve  tried for two days...101 told me to come here!  She said she would send a message to my doctors to tell them what the hospital consultant had said.  She told me to go to my surgery as there was no guarantee they would pick the message up straight away. So off I went to doctors...arrived before lunch and all the reception shutters were down...still couldn’t get through on phone. I phone someone (desperate messures) I knew who knew someone in the office to call me ASAP.  They did. Explained all to her. She said there was no doctor I could speak to today but one would call me sometime tomorrow morning...? I asked that I could be referred in the meantime, she said I don’t know...you need to speak to doctor first.....I said I’ve been trying!....She said I could ask secretaries but there’s no guarantee...blah blah! Wow. What is happening to our NHS!? Surely we can’t still be blaming Covid for what I experienced today.

To add to this I also have a moderate increased risk of cancer due to family history of possible BRCA2.

I ended up phoning private hospital...who had no appointments until Oct...but they called me back to say there’d been a cancellation. Saw am amazing consultant. Having tests ASAP. This will be worth ever penny I’m about to put on my credit card!!! 

I lost all faith that my doctors would process this referal ASAP....so a two week urgent appointment as suggested by NHS hospital consultant today would probably have turned into a 3 week plus wait based on my first attempt to get help yesterday morning.

Bev67, so sorry to hear about your dreadful experience. I can't fault the speed of my referrals or attention I have received but it's such a stressful time that nobody should have that on top. You must now put that behind you and I hope they now find the cause of your problem and a solution quickly. Best wishes.

How awful for you Bev67.

It took a long time, but after a similar experience to you it was decided after 1 year of cancelled appointments that I had just had a late period.

Which is kind of what I thought all along!

You are right to want to get this checked out, but it's most likely not serious.

Best wishes

Hi 

thank you for your kind message. It is reassuringly....thank you! ..I have to say I’m worried about being too confident just in case....

bev67 

Sorry to hear about this.  I had a similar experience. Had one heavy bleed 12 months after menopause (I'm 54).  It felt like a period, had very sore breasts before but it was much heavier and lasted longer than my previous periods but completely stopped after 8 days.  That was on 3rd June and I've had no bleeding at all since.   I only had a biopsy and saw a Dr for the first time 3 weeks ago but it was inconclusive so had a hysteroscopy 2 weeks ago and I'm still waiting for the results.  That's 3 months now of uncertainty and worry despite my supposedly been fast tracked to be seen in 2 weeks! The gynaecologist told me on the day of my hysteroscopy that my uterus looked completely normal even though a scan had shown thickening of 9mm.  I'm hanging on his words but realise I can't be sure until the biopsy results come back.  The waiting is getting me down.  I tried to go to my local private hospital too but they were so booked up as no one was getting seen on the NHS.  Then fortunately I did get an appt but it had certainly been a long wait.  I got a phone call after a week about the first biopsy result when the Dr phoned to tell me it had been inconclusive.  I'm thinking they must now know the results of the hysteroscopy biopsy after 2 weeks so I'm phoning on Monday.  

Hi

People shouldn’t be left in this kind of flux. Keep phoning and phoning.  And keep ttrying private consultants at private hospital in case of cancellation...which is what happened to me.  They can access your medical records.

GP surgerys and NHS is bad state....I don’t believe there is an excuse apart from years of too many middle managers and too many private companies operating within and under the the infrastructure of the NHS.  Last 30 to 40 years has seen the gap between the have and have nots increase beyond our comprehension....I think 1% of the population own 99% of the wealth.

Going private was something I felt I had no choice but to do. It’s not right but there we are.  The service I got was excellent and comforting..  Off tor ultrasound tomorrow!  I have no regrets but lots of sadness at how this country has allowed the precious NHS to become business focused as opposed to community and patient focused.

And to add to that there isn’t many balanced articles online about post menopausal bleeding.  I found this one which I felt was uplifting 

keep fighting for your answers! And keep smiling.

x

Thanks for your reply, it really helps, especially the article via the link in your message.  It is an 'uplifting article as you say'.  I'm keeping fingers and toes crossed that my biopsy will be normal.  If the nasties are ruled out I suppose any bleeding will be put down to 'one of those things'. I've since found out that my grandmother had the most horrendous bleeding during and after the menopause and she was virtually house bound for a few years.  She lived to 100 and no tests were done back then.  They just got on with it.  She also had a lot of stress at that time as her son had been killed in a car crash so this thinking of stress causing bleeds certainly has some merit.  I've had a lot of worry this year so maybe that was it ‍♀️.  I'll chase my biopsy results this week.  Hope anyone also waiting for results gets good news x

Thanks for that Bev67 and Marywj. I understand genetics can  play a part too. I hope so because I'm relying, naively perhaps, on the fact my great grandmother was reputedly still menstruating in her mid sixties. I'm now wondering if she was potentially suffering from same cause as me but lack of testing/knowledge would never have shown otherwise. She lived to be almost 90 so, and without treatment, it presumably was nothing sinister. Unfortunately the next 2 generations had hysterectomies so I've nothing to compare there. I'm just holding steadfast to great grandmother's experience and the  fact consultant says it's probably hormonal ovarian activity. Still scared out of my mind every time it happens but good to read Michelle Tyler's account now too - sounds so like my own, although I'm not sure about suffering from any obvious stress factors (save now for the bleeding).