Suspected ovarian cancer

Dear Leanne

Good morning and a very warm welcome to our online community.

Thanks for getting in touch at such a challenging time. My name is Gemma and I am one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.  Your question was passed through to us this morning, and I hope my answer is helpful for you.

It’s always a worrying time when you’re having symptoms that doctors suspect could be due to a cancer. Many symptoms that are associated with cancer can be the result of other illnesses and conditions. However, doctors usually want to rule out cancer: It is important that this is done first, before looking at other non-cancerous causes.  In fact, the tests and investigations which find, or rule out, cancer will often identify the cause whether cancerous or not.

The symptoms you describe and the investigations that you have had would certainly suggest that your GP is concerned about the potential risk of a future cancer diagnosis. However, it is difficult for us to know for sure. Even painful abdominal swellings can have other causes.

It would be usual for you to expect a clinic appointment or phone call firstly.  Then for the hospital team to arrange for further tests and investigations. Until this is done no one will be able to fully understand what may be happening.

Going through an urgent referral and waiting for results can be an extremely anxious time, regardless of how the results turn out. It’s natural to feel scared, worried, and anxious at this time.

There is no right or wrong way for you to feel while waiting for your results.

We do have some tips that might help to deal with fear, anxiety and difficult emotions at this time.

You mentioned your background of BPD and ADHD, if you have any specialist teams who usually support you for these, we encourage you to get in touch with them, to let them know what is happening now and how it is affecting you.  It’s good that you’ve been able to identify that things are 10X harder due to these conditions, so it is important to let the right people know about it.  If you don’t have a specialist team we recommend a review with your GP, as soon as is possible, to discuss how things are right now.

You also mention that your pain is quite severe. We are unclear whether your GP has offered you any effective pain relief while you wait for your investigations. If your pain is not under control, please keep going back to your GP until you find something that helps.

Talking and sharing emotions and fears can be very important in helping to process emotions and for you to feel supported. We always recommend trying to take things one step at a time Leanne, but I appreciate this is easier said than done. If it would be useful to chat things over with one of the Macmillan support line team here, please don’t hesitate to call in.  Our lines are open every day of the year from 8am to 8pm on 0808 808 0000 and we would be very happy to offer our support while you go through this.

our Ref KS