Hi all, sorry this is a lengthy post. I've been suffering with right side lower abdominal pain, pressure in pelvic area, bloating, waking 2-3 times in the night for a wee and a change in bowel habits, since early March. My GP Wasn't much help, using covid as an excuse not to refer me. after my symptoms got worse, I went to A&E in May, they did an ultra sound and bloods, which came back all clear and I was sent away.
Fast forward to early July, still in a lot of pain and by this time I've lost 20kg in weight , so I went back to A&E and this time I felt like the doctor actually listed to me, they did a CT scan, they found a 6.5cm x 4cm mass and I was admitted to hospital for 5 days for further investigation. Whilst in hospital I had an MRI scan which confirmed a mass. The consultant said it was in the area of my right ovary /appendix. I was sent home to wait for the results of their MDT meeting. The consultant called me 3 weeks later and said he thought the Mass was inflammatory in nature around the appendix, and that it should settle down in a few weeks, my bloods were not showing any raised tumor markers. He would arrange follow up scans in 8 weeks.
in September they repeated the CT and MRI scan, a few weeks later a consultant from urology called me and said the mass was stable, but it was causing problems with my kidneys and I would need to have a nephrostomy drain put in my right kidney. I went into hospital the next day for the procudure and spent another couple of days in hospital. Again I was sent home to wait the outcome of the next MDT meeting.
I got a call from the general surgeon a couple of weeks later, he explained there had been no changes to the scan and the mass was stable, he wanted to perform a biopsy, but due to the location of the mass a needle biopsy wasn't possible and I needed to go in for a diagnostic laparotomy and biopsy. Back into hospital on 26th October for the laparoscopy, when I woke from the surgery the doctor said he couldn't find anything and no biopsy was taken. I would need to have another MRI. I am still waiting for an appointment for my 3rd MRI.
I continue to suffer pain, some days it's so bad I can't even stand up for more than a few minutes, I've been told I will have to have the nephrostomy in untill they find out what the Mass is and the pressure has been relieved from my kidney.
The whole situation is really starting to get me down and after 9 months of pain I still don't know what I'm dealing with, Has anyone else experienced such a lengthy diagnosis and is it possible that bloods tests can give false readings?.
