Hi
My GP phoned a few weeks ago to say my white cells were rising and he had referred me to a haematologist. He mentioned CLL (no other possible explanations!). The wait for haematology is 12 weeks but surely if it's a possible blood cancer I should have been seen sooner.
Has anyone else experienced this? The waiting is awful. I haven't told my husband or children yet - what could I say?!
Hi GREEN3322 and a very warm welcome to the online community
Waiting for tests and then the results of tests is really horrible and there's no easy answer. When I was in this limbo period I tried to occupy my time doing things that I enjoyed to stop my mind wandering to the 'what ifs'. Lots of people find mindfulness really helpful and if this is something that you'd like to try clicking here will take you to the NHS page on mindfulness where you can download apps, some of which are free.
As the online community is divided up into different support groups I'm going to recommend that you join the CLL, SLL, HCL group where you can ask questions, share experiences and get support from others who will understand exactly what you're going through. If this is something that you'd like to do just click on the link I've created and then join and post in the same way as you did here. You can also join in with existing conversations by clicking 'reply'.
Personally I couldn't have managed without the support of my husband so he was aware right from the start that I was going to be having a biopsy to find out what the lump on my arm was. Whether you decide to tell your husband and children or not is a very personal choice and I guess a lot depends on how good you are at concealing your emotions and worries, and I don't mean that in a horrible way.
If you decide to talk to your children Macmillan has this useful information while this information helps you to prepare to tell people in general. Whilst both sets of information assumes that you have cancer you could still use it as a guide on how to approach the subject.
I'll be keeping everything crossed that there's another explanation as to why your white blood cells are rising.
Sending a virtual ((hug))
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
