Hello
I am a 55 year old female living in Scotland. 18 months ago i had several symptoms including, sharp back Pain at bra level, soft yellow stools with oil on toilet water, pain within both rib cages and i managed to convince my gp to refer me privately for a ct scan. That scan did not show any issues with the pancreas. I was still getting pains several months on from that but of course these were dismissed because of the clear ct scan.
In mid April 2019 i got very sharp pain in my left flank and lower back which has continued to this day. Disrupted digestion resulted in daily bouts of diarrhoea from early on in this timeline to date. In May 2019 i was diagnosed with diabetes out of the blue. Now my head made connections between the pain and the diabetes so from that point on i was v concerned that the pancreas was in trouble. Blood tests done and liver function test showed slightly elevated levels but within range for someone with a fatty liver. In june gp referred me for a kidney ultrasound. At that appointment i asked the technician to look at the pancreas and she looked at the head of the pancreas which was clear. Because of the clear ultrasound gp would not refer me for further tests.
About three weeks ago, after 13 gp appointments between April and October, i went back to gp suregery and saw a gp i hadnt seen before. Having told her that i was experiencing diarrhoea 5 times a day and that i wanted to go back to the gastroenterologist i had seen in July (privately). The gp got agreement for that and i saw the gastroenterologist privately who didnt believe there was anything sinister going on but who said that if i really wanted to pursue it the only place that hadnt been investigated was the small intestince. This would need a mri scan. I had mri scan two weeks ago and guess what? It shows an abnormality in the pancreas in the body and i am awaiting a ct scan on 11 nov to find out what is going on and where else it has gone to in the body.
My gp is totally shocked at the mri report and cannot believe it given that she told me on several occasions that i definitely did not have pancreatic cancer. She relied totally upon what the medical evidence was telling her despite having had her patient in fromt of her 13 times in 6 months. She also stated that i was right to pursue the issue of a mri scan because otherwise i would still be sitting in her office with her telling me there was nothing wrong!
I have been taking low level cocodamol for the pain but now have a prescription for the higher level of cocodamol. The waiting for the ct scan is difficult and i have a lot of difficulty trying to remain positive. I fear that despite being proactive in pursuing the mri it will be to no effect yet it cost a huge amount of money.
Given the amount of time that has passed since i first felt pain i am now expecting the worst in terms of metastasis while trying to balance that with the fact that i dont yet have a diagnosis. I lost my dad 6 months ago and my mother 18 monthgs ago.
