Waiting for diagnosis.

Yes...I'm getting the feeling now that there just aren't the staff and resources..it's all so stressful...

Hi Dave, sorry to hear what you're going through. I just really wanted to empathize with similar lack of care at my GP level. I went to GP with a lump feeling in my throat 5 years ago and she said it was stress! (No referral ). Health deteriorated with chronic fatigue being my worst but many other classic thyroid symptoms. My daughter kept insisting I go back to my GP (which I did many times) who then put it down to menopause! (Bloods normal like yours).

Eventually this year (5 years on) the lump showed externally and I got my ENT referral at last. 22mm Medullary thyroid carcinoma with spread to neck and chest lymph nodes. Had my op in June. The care I've received now I'm in the hands of my specialist consultant/surgeon has been amazing and they've now even agreed to do my regular bloods (2hr round trip!) as I've lost trust in my GP. 

Anyway rant over! I agree every case is very different but if it helps in the negative, I didn't get any of the symptoms you mentioned. Now you are in the consultant's hands you'll get answers, although I know the waits can be a frustrating and worrying time.

Hope you get your answers soon x

Today I get my biopsy result (private hospital) - yesterday I saw my gp who when I was about to leave suggested that my jaw pain would be down to me being anxious. My wife who was with me said she was inclined to £)(££((: him. My neck has swollen more.

So - I saw my private consultant yesterday. The biopsy was a dud - can't remember the term he used but I was given the opportunity to repeat it or given the 2 ultrasounds classifying the various nodules that I have from U3 to U5 he suggested that the left side of my Thyroid removed. I have opted for the second option. U5 is the classification for cancerous. I have some reservations because some of the nodules were on the right side and if the operation on the left side indicates something nasty then I might have to pay for a second operation for the right side. I was 60 last weekend and yet Dr's in general still seem to doubt my ability to determine when parts of my body are telling me something is wrong. I am personally 100% sure that I have pain in multiple lymph nodes from neck, chest and arms. I don't know if this is normal or if is suggests that the cancer has spread. I can't feel any lumps but there is tenderness and prickly pain.

I had really pinned my hopes on something definite being diagnosed by the FNA but I'm still in the dark. The good news is that my operation is within 2 weeks. The bad news is that I have reservations about the merit of only doing half the job. 

I wish you well and also good luck.  I truly believe that we know our own bodies well enough to sense when something is not right.  I'm 60 next and yes the drs do a great job but I have to say that they could do more and why I worry is because I'm normally correct when I sense things.

I also ended up with l'ong covid'...and that has been simply a nightmare of not being understood.

Diane

Hi Dave, I'm sorry your FNA results were inconclusive. Frustrating but glad you were able to go down the private route as an alternative. As I already mentioned, it took 5 years of GP not taking my symptoms seriously to get to a consultant and by then I needed a much bigger op. You know your body. That said, I didn't feel it the way you've described but every case is different. 

If it helps, from what I've learned, different consultants have different surgical approaches. Some opt only to do hemi-thyroidectomy as the more conservative option, in what is a tricky area to operate in with many potential nerve/muscle etc complications. And of course it can depend on cancer type. Mine was the rarer Medullary so decision was then made to treat surgically (as you can't use iodine radiation on Medullary). So he decided full thyroidectomy, bilateral neck and chest dissections to make sure he got as much as possible in one go.

Again, not sure if this helps but I hope any information is good before you go forward.