General Chat

In the early 1960s my mum was fobbed off with milk of magnesia for five or six months before they finally gave her an x-ray and found out her stomach cancer, much too late

Brian, my Dad's doctor kept telling my 76 yr old father he had chest infections for over 2 yrs, by the time he offered an xray lung cancer had taken hold, too far gone to do much and we lost Dad 5 months later.

I am glad your wife had a better result, and pleased that your result wasn't as bad as feared.

Lizx

'er indoors had persistent chest infections in the early 1990s which the GP put down to bronchyectasis and similar.
She was on antibiotics for a week, off for a fortnight then back on for months, so short of breath she was in a wheelchair part of the time.
Had x-rays which showed nothing and eventually the doctor sent her for an MRI scan "just to be on the safe" side and it came back showing a large tumour.
So, half the left lung out. It was benign. Five months off work and twenty years later she's fine apart from a shortness of breath due to the reduced lung capacity.

My father's hernia allowed a maternal aunt know all her grandchildren.

Strange but true. My father went to the doctors with a hernia and was put on the waiting list for his op. Next time my parents saw my aunt it was mentioned and she asked where the lump was. When my father pointed to the area she told them she'd had a lump there for some time so it must be a hernia and went to the doctors. Alas it wasn't and they couldn't get all the cancer out so they put irradiated gold in the area to slow it down. She lived another 8 years and in that time her last 3 grandchildren were born.

She may have lived if she'd gone earlier but she only went to her doctor's because she believed it was a hernia. She chose to ignore it.

A lesson learnt in our family - never leave a lump, most are harmless but cancer can be beaten by early detection. :-)

You did the right thing and thankfully it's nothing sinister.

I just wish some other men would swallow their 'machismo' and see the GP, it would have saved lives in my family.

Sue

Given your medical history,it's not surprising those around you were concerned. Thank goodness it's nothing 'sinister'.

Brian Very glad to see you are alright apart from Hernia .they are painful but can be treated .you should be ok .just take it easy until you get it sorted .Men & woman should get lumps checked .sometimes we think the worst .& are frightened to go to GP it saves lives though .best wishes :-)

so glad it was "only" a hernia

panic indeed over!

A lump anywhere is a worry and should be seen by a GP ASAP

So glad that yours is nothing to worry about too much.... panic over indeed.

'Er indoors' was sensible Brian and it's good it's not serious.

I'm glad your son's treatment was successful Andrew.

My son had a large lump on his neck....turned out it really was a nasty. 10 months of chemo and radiotheraphy followed. That was five years ago and he is fine now.

ALWAYS get strange lumps checked out. I had a small one recently, was just a little cyst, but the doc said it was the right thing to do.

Andy

thank goodness for that Brian - panic over as you say

A couple of months ago I realised there was a lump in my left groin not matched with one in the right.
No idea how long it had been there, no pain or other identifyable symptoms.
"Get it checked out" says 'er indoors.
So I go to the quacks, he has a feel and says, "Don't know what it is but go for a PSA blood test in case it's connected with the prostate cancer you had five years ago". Plus the advice to keep an eye on it and if it gets bigger or red or etc. etc. go straight to casualty. I.e. maybe it's an aneurysm of the femoral artery.
Well. I'd only had my follow-up three months before and that had been undetectible, same as all the others in the interval, so I was convoinced it wasn't a prostate cancer secondary but to keep the doc happy I trot off for a blood test.
Results come back a few days later so back to the doc, results negative "Told you so" says I.
"Go for an urgent scan" says he "and I'm on holiday at the end of the week so if it's not back before then come and see one of my partners".
No scan appointment comes through so a few phone calls eventually establish that the place he'd sent the request to couldn't do it for some reason so rebook at the local hospital. And get the GP to re-examine me in the meantime.
Local hospital duly book it but there's a month's waiting list. So much for urgent!
See another GP at the surgery as own one still away and get a thorough examination. This GP thinks it's probably a hernia, which is what 'er indoors suggested when I first told her what I'd found.
Anyway, eventually had the scan yesterday and it IS a hernia,
So back to original GP next Wednesday to see if any treatment is required.
I think I was the only one not panicking!