Hi... Awaiting diagnosis

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Morning everyone,

I have been experiencing issues with my stomach for a couple of years now and this is what has led to the discovery of an issue with my liver.

I had a CT scan in March this year due to the issues I was experiencing with my bowel & a couple of days after my CT scan I received a call from the hospital informing me of the need to attend an MRI appointment. Following this I received a call informing me that I would need to have emergency bloods taken at my local hospital and that I needed to attend a further CT Scan a couple of days later.

From this it was explained to me that they had found a lesion on my liver (segment 6, around 2cm) and that it had appeared to have grown from my original CT Scan I had taken the year earlier (when my stomach issues began). It had been discussed in the local MDT meeting and they couldn't decide if it was cancerous or not and sent my file to another hospital for the specialist consultant to review. They too couldn't confirm either way and decided I needed a biopsy. (I was also informed that I had fluid on my lungs which would have to be drained, unsure if related?)

This was arranged for my local hospital but when the doctor began the ultra sound, he was unable to find the lesion and therefore couldn't do the biopsy. I was referred to another, specialist, hospital for the procedure & they too have been unable to locate the lesion to perform a biopsy...

I'm now in a position where the consultant has recommended we wait 6 weeks and then undertake a further CT Scan to see if there has been any growth or change to the lesion & they will decide a course of action from there.

Despite the worry, I have been able to continue working but I have been getting pains in the right side of my chest which are gradually getting worse. It is so bad my GP has tried me on strong co-codamol, then tramadol & now morphine for the pain. This is helping but because of the side effects my employers have allowed me to work from home for the time being (which has been a massive help tbh).

I'm now in a position where I feel physically drained almost everyday, I've gone from someone who was reasonably active with a reliable body clock to someone who could easily sleep for the majority of the day. I know this is most likely a side effect of the morphine, but it feels like it's more (if that makes sense?)

I'm trying my best to put a brave face on each day for my wife and children but it becoming more of a struggle to hide the pain I am in at times.

I don't know what I want to get out of this post, maybe just putting it out there will help as I'm getting it off my chest??

Thanks for taking the time to read this :)

Jude100 8 months ago

Hi, I joined this online forum 7 years after my husband was diagnosed with Oesophagul cancer. Didn’t think I’d ever have to use it again till yesterday !
me personally thought we had seen the back of cancer, as John ( my husband) had an oesophagectomy and a gastroscopy. He then went into remission, and as far as we were concerned the cancer was no more…

how wrong were we? We had a phone call yesterday from our old upper GI nurse telling us that there was something very suspicious on the top of his liver near his heart. Also there was lots going on outside it. He is waiting for a biopsy and a scan now, but from what we can read is that it’s back!! Obviously in the liver. He’s always had ailments , but as we sat and talked last night, we realised as of late that these symptoms he is getting are to connected with liver cancer….I’m like you, I just needed to say this. I think we both know…… Jude

Jude X

Tough_Si 8 months ago in reply to Jude100

Hi Jude100 ,

Firstly, can I say thank you for responding. I was beginning to think that nobody was ever going to respond to it so thank you again.

I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through with your husband. I haven't mentioned that my wife had stage 3 cervical cancer in 2014. It came completely out of nowhere and changed our lives overnight. Luckily for us, her treatment plan worked even better than the consultant had hoped with Chemo & radiotherapy as the initial goal was to shrink the tumor so they could operate on it (it was 6cm & it needed to be under 4cm). The treatment actually killed the tumor off & no surgery was required. She's been in remission ever since but that isn't sunshine and rainbows (as I'm sure you know!)

Weve had a number of scares where we thought it had come back, each time it wasn't anything serious but unfortunately once you start on that journey again, it's inevitable you'll have memories that flood back.

What symptoms is your husband dealing with? I'd be more than happy to chat anytime of you feel you need to offload? All you can do for now is stay positive & just try to ride it out until you have a definitive answer.

Best Wishes

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