Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Stargazer on May 07, 2023, 01:30:13 PM
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I had a full hysterectomy with ovaries and tubes out on Thursday for Progesterone Intolerance so that I can continue with Oestrogen Lenzetto Spray as without I have terrible aching joints.
When was coming around in recovery a junior Dr said to me that they have a good look around the other organs to make sure everything is ok and found a 1cm surface liver nodule. She said they would write to my GP to take this up. I was so upset and groggy as you can imagine that they decided to do a CT Scan (as they had a space), bloods and arrange a two week follow up. I spoke to the Consultant afterwards and he said that he was certain/absolutely certain it was not cancer as it did not look like this and there were no other evidence at all. My liver function blood tests are normal and so are the cancer indicator blood tests for liver. I am waiting for the Liver outpatient apt about the CT Scan. I am so worried about this I think trying to get over a major op at the same time has made me very upset. Do you think it sounds negative? I guess surgeons know what cancer looks like. He was lovely to me.
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I am pretty sure they are quite common. In fact when my husband had a scan years ago for something else, they mentioned nodules on liver. But they weren't bothered or even interested to pursue any further. Try and just rest up and don't spoil this time of nurturing yourself by looking up stuff on the internet. I made that mistake in my recovery two years ago and had a nosedive mentally. Sit outside and relax. It's absolutely the best advice I can give you. xx
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Made me laugh Gnatty thank you. Yes, I am sitting on the internet indoors looking things up frightening myself silly. Will take you advice as it is making me feel very vulnerable and depressed - bless you x
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Sure I've read on here about other ladies having nodules (liver, thyroid, elsewhere) showing up as what they call 'incidental' findings when in for something else, and apparently most of us will have them we just won't know about it. Doctors, especially surgeons, know what they're looking for in terms of cancer, so if your consultant has said they are certain it isn't, then I would trust in that. They'll have seen what cancer looks like and will know the difference! X
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The liver is a determined organ in that it can regenerate itself. How did the Consultant seem as the findings were explained? Remember that he/she sees these types of oddities daily.
Let us know how you get on. Keep off Dr GOOGLE 'cos he don't know a lot >:(
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Have these : :foryou: :tulips2: :tulips:
get into the ☀️ and top up that VitD ;-).
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Hello Stargazer.
Years ago I read an article about a super duper scanner that could look at all the organs in the body at once. The doctors at the hospital said that most people have odd bits of cells or growths inside them that are totally harmless but the patients were likely to freak out!
When my son had his appendix out the surgeon said that everyone's anatomy is slightly different and this is completely normal.
I hope this helps you in some way and take care.
K.
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There is a article in the Daily Mail today talking about these incidental findings because as you say the scanners are superdupper now and picking up all manner of things.
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Update- so I have been invited to hospital for an MRI Scan GP was not surprised by this as she said it is hard to see the liver clearly on CT Scan. The CT scan showed no other nodules in any other part of body and nothing written to suggest that they thought it was serious but we would have to wait for the MRI Scan.
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That's moving forwards, it's the waiting that can be difficult!
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It is very difficult to wait - anyone else have experience of this please?
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Hi Stargazer,
I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. I have developed terrible health anxiety recently and even walking into a Gp's surgery brings me out in a sweat, so I can totally relate to how you must be feeling.
18 months ago my husband went for a private MRI scan on his pelvis and spine to investigate intermittent nerve sensations down his leg. It wasn't really causing him that much of a problem but because it came up in an annual company health screening he agreed to get it checked out. He went for a scan and 24 hours later received a call from the orthopaedic consultant on a Saturday night - totally out of the blue - to say that his spine/pelvis was fine other than general wear and tear, BUT the reason for phoning was that a "potential abnormality in his bowel" had shown up on the scan and he was duty-bound to get it checked out, urgently. He was so apologetic for giving my husband this message, and at the weekend. We were both totally floored with this news out of the blue especially as he didn't have any symptoms.
Anyway after a very frantic month getting various tests arranged, both thinking the worst, it turned out that the "abnormality" was an "artefact", that is to say, an issue with the scan imaging showing a thicker than normal bowel lining and not a growth or tumour etc.
It was a horrible time.
What I'm trying to say, in a long-winded way is that:-
A) the doctors are being super-vigilant in getting any possible abnormalities they see checked put. This is a good thing because the sooner anything is identified (if there is anything) the sooner it can be treated.
B) Scans etc aren't always accurate at identifying anomalies so it could be nothing at all.
C) If any other tests (e.g. blood tests etc) aren't showing any issue it is a good thing
A friend of mine who recovered from bowel cancer and had terrible anxiety for follow up scans was told by her consultant to "deal with the facts". Although this is hard for those of us with health anxiety to do, it is excellent advice.
Reading everything you have said it sounds very unlikely that this is anything sinister and the doctor is just being very thorough.
This doesn't undermine how you are feeling. In your situation I would feel exactly the same as you but I just wanted to reach out to you. It's the unknown which is so scary. I hope you get positive clarification very soon. In the meantime sending you support and good wishes.
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Thank you DottyD68 for you reply. Really scary for you and your husband and I am pleased to hear it all turned out alright.
The health anxiety around these type of findings is very common I read and radiographers call it VOMIT acronym Victims of Medical Imaging Technology.
Mine nodular lesion was seen by the surgeon during the operation so he is convinced it is not cancerous, bloods fine including tumour marker blood tests all negative and GP yesterday (i range her to find out if CT Scan revealed anything) said that they CT did not show any nodules in any other areas of the body but they could get a really good look of nodule on CT so having an MRI scan to day (GP said this is not uncommon as CT not so good for livers). She said they hadn't written anything that would suggest they thought it was serious and it could be a cyst though to cover herself she said she couldn't be 100 certain. So I trying to relax a bit and get over this hysterectomy xx
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MRI Scan today
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Hope the scan went well today Stargazer, and that you're feeling reassured about it all. Great post from Dotty above, and I'd also read the Daily Mail article too, not good reading for those of us with health anxiety eh.
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Thank you Penguin - MRI Scan went ok and when I came home a Liver Nurse telephoned me. She said she wanted to know if I was ok at the moment ie trying to recover from hysterectomy as well. I said I was not able to rest as much as I should as really concerned about results. She looked through notes and said it was highly unlikely to be anything to worry about and that she would email the radiographer and ask them to expedite the results as I was so worried. She said it sounded traumatic and dramatic the way I was told in recovery, amen to that. She was excellent and gave me her number. I asked her if a lot of her referrals are incidental findings and she said most of them!
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Oh that does sound reassuring, and I'm so glad you got to speak to someone sensible and caring. Great that she gave you her number too. I really don't think telling someone in the way you were told is good at all, they could have handled it better, perhaps something to feed back when this is all over.
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Penguin- I'm sorry the Daily Mail article did not help your Health Anxiety. I decided I would do all I could to try and help mine. So I telephoned the CT Department at my hospital in Nottingham (Huge hospital) and spoke to a Radiologist. He said he didn't want me to worry. I said a lot of articles on line give sobering results for radiation levels and CT scans. He said this is now the 21st century and the scanner machines are now very advanced stay away from the internet as most out of date. I asked if they set the machine to size etc and he said that they don't even change the level of radiation the machine changes it all the time as necessary and gives as low a level as possible. He said the levels are very low and an abdominal CT scan is about the equivalent of the radiation from a flight from London to New York. Made me feel a bit better xx
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Thanks that's good to know. Although tbh I'm less worried about radiation and more about incidental findings. I should really stop reading the news full stop, except for fluffy animal stories!
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Penguin Lol, we should only be allowed to look at kittens/puppies on the web lol.
Husband who is quite frankly enjoying being in charge at the moment of me and the kids has deemed I am no longer allowed to have my laptop with me at night in the spare room (where I am sleeping whilst recovering). He is also coming down from his office and to make coffee, check in on me and see what I am watching on u tube. He wants me to relax and stop worrying and more importantly stop frightening myself on Dr Google.
Good luck with your incidental finding - Let me know if you like I will put on here my result x
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Hi Stargazer,
Glad you had your MRI and the liver nurse sounds really on it. I think most of the time in these situations we just want reassurance. Full stop. Ven if it is bad news, reassurance that the people who have the power to help have your best interests at heart. Knowing that the medics not only care about your physical well-being but also your mental well-being is so important. I appreciate that they must be under so much pressure but it does make the difference. Waiting for results is just the worst.
Anyeay you sound like you are in good hands both at home and at the hospital. Hope your recovery goes well. X