Quote from: Lucky Peach on October 31, 2012, 07:03:01 PM
So I have been trying to keep this to myself since I found out, because there is no point in worrying others about something that may turn out to be nothing. In fact, I haven't told a soul this, but tonight I just really need...I don't even know.
I had gone to the hospital because I wasn't feeling well. They did a bunch of tests, gave me some meds, got me patched up, and I was out the door. They were kind and helpful and courteous and that was great. On the report from one of my tests though on my discharge papers the tech noted that they found a '3-4 mm left upper lobe nodule'
Now, naturally being who I am, when I was feeling a bit better, I looked this up. I've been really down ever since. Tonight though I can't stop crying. Now let me say that the words that follow the incidental discovery are 'doubtful significance in this young patient' and they never said anything to me while I was at the ER so I'm likely just working myself up over nothing, but for the past month really this has just been eating away at me and right now I can't deal with this alone anymore. I've got a doctor's appointment at the beginning of december, and we're going to talk about this, but right now I can't handle the not knowing for until then. I don't want to drag my family into this either because I don't want them to be heartbroken or upset about it when it very likely could be nothing. I mean look at what this is doing to me, how is it fair to do this to someone else? I just don't know what to do.
Hi,
Well first is to to do what you aren't doing. Don't panic.
When you see a patients a do a large number of investigations you invariably come up with some results that don't fit the norm. As a pathologist you then write on the report, odd thingy found, significance unknown, follow up?
On a lung scan you OFTEN find nodules or scarring of some sort. These can be the result of a heavy cold or pneumonia, environmental factors, asthma attacks all sorts of stuff besides serious problems. Mostly these findings are in no way serious.
One of the consequences of improved technology in pathology is that we detect more abnormalities than we used to. They are called abnormalities but to be fair they are called that because you don't know what else to call them.
I'll give you a case in point. My particular speciality is a leukaemia known as CLL, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia, it is the most common leukaemia in adults in the western world and it is easy to diagnose. With the increased sensitivity of testing we can detect in quite large numbers of people a CLL like population. For a while we reported it as possible early onset CLL. That has stopped as it scared the c**p out of everyone concerned, when in practice we wanted the labs to say, retest in 12 months or so.
So that is what now happens and 9.9/10 in 12 months those cells have disappeared, because that is what our body does. disappears stuff. Some times they stay. I have one patient who has had the same population for the last 5 years and no evidence of leukaemia.
In your case it is probably nothing, in fact the hard money will be on nothing. Because if anyone thought it was significant they would have had you in for further investigations before you got to the car park.
There is a reason why medics etc have resisted having patients view their own medical files. It is exactly what you are doing to yourself.
Be calm and don't worry.
Cindy. PM me if you wish.
