Scared for loved ones biopsy results

Hi,

My dad has been having stomach issues over the last few weeks, feeling bloated, full up quickly, tightness in the stomach when he eats.

 

He got referred for a 2 week wait referral, which working at a GP surgery myself made me panic.

 

He had an endoscopy and sigmoidoscopy a week ago today. They found a stomach ulcer and they think it is cancerous but they took a biopsy to be sure.

We havent had the results back yet, and I have been going out of my mind with worry ever since. I've been googling it and have read that stomach cancer is one of the worse ones and the mortality rate is high.

I suffer with anxiety anyway, but this is the worst I have ever experienced. I dont know what to do. I cant stop crying and am finding it hard to talk to my dad without wanting to cry and my voice brealkng, but I dont want him to see me upset so am trying to hold it in. 

I havent even asked him how he is feeling with the wait as I know I won't be able to get the words out without crying.

I cant shake this feeling that when he does get the results they are going to say its spread everywhere and he only has limited time.

My boyfriend keeps telling me not to Google as I am making my worry worse and finding things to scare myself further.

He is having a CT scan today, and i am panicking as i dont know if they are going to tell us any results straight away. 

I dont know when we will get the results (they said within 2 weeks). But i am dreading results day.

Even though i am already convinced that it's going to be the worst news, i guess there is still a glimmer of hope whilst waiting. Whereas on results day, that could be it and no hope left at all. 

I feel like i wouldnt be as worried if I was waiting for the results for myself.

I just wondered if anyone had any advice?

 

  • The way scans work, the radiographer won't tell you. They get read afterwards, sent to the treating doctor and discussed at a weekly MDT meeting. So the usual turn around is around 7-10 days depending on when that meeting is.

    There is zero point asking those taking the scans what they think as they won't be able to tell you. There's sometimes signs up asking people not to ask as they haven't been read properly and they simply won't tell you good or bad as they have no idea themselves.

    There are caveats to this. During more straightforward scans such as ultrasounds, cameras etc, the sonographer will sometimes tell people if everything looks fine. But not always.  I had a lump in my arm once and got told straight away it was a fatty lump via an US. But I've also had 3 MRI's (one for an ear issue and 2 for my back) and i had to wait the 7-10 days for the results. It takes more than one person to go over MRI's, CTs etc. So don't fret, it's normal.