Hi all, I am worried sick I have had pain in my left upper abdomen for months and have kept going to the GP to be advised that they thought is was costocondrolitis. The pain has gotten worse over the last couple of months resulting in me again going to the GP.Bloods were done and due to coming back with elevated CA199 markers and CA125 I was sent for a CT scan that I had almost 2 weeks ago. Last week my GP contact me to advice the results were back and I had a side branch IPMN 7mm in diameter,she advised she had never come across this before and would seek advice from specialist and in the meantime refer me for urgent appoint to the upper GI surgical team as it is likely to need to be removed due to the increased risk of it becoming malignant.
Since then I have become crazy google doctor and have scared myself sick as the news that initially sounded good 'that I didn't have cancer' does not seem that positive. I am now not sure whether the IPMN is benign as how could they know?.
To add to my stress the letter from the GI surgical unit advised that the due date for screening to decide whether or not I need to be seen urgently was today. I rang this morning as advised as I'd not heard from them to be told that the consultant had not yet screened it! And when he does if he feels its urgent then the waiting list for urgent referrals is 6 weeks for.non urgent 10! I'm beside myself with worry as I have no idea what I'm dealing with.
Hi Anxiousannie and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I know how awful waiting for results and tests can be. I found that doing things I enjoyed helped keep my mind off the 'what ifs'. Lots of people find mindfulness really helpful and, if this is something you'd like to know more about, clicking here will take you to the NHS page about it.
As humans, we do have a tendency to expect the worst but hopefully your IPMN will turn out to be benign. A friend of mine once told me that worrying about the future won't change the outcome but it will ruin the present and I try to live by that.
When you feel up to it, it would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and tests to date into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
