Hi Vicks05,

Welcome to Cancer Chat.

My reply here will boost your post so more people will see it and if anyone has similar experience to share then hopefully they'll be along soon.

If you'd like to talk anything through with our nurses about this, you can reach them on 0808 800 4040 (Monday-Friday, 9-5).

Otherwise, I hope it's not too long for you to wait to find out more about this from your specialist.

Wishing you all the best,

Ben
Cancer Chat Moderator

Thank you Ben. I have my biopsy on Wednesday 13th Jan, just feeling a bit anxious about things and also with covid as, I don't want to put myself at risk of catching that incase it delays anything. I work for nhs myself. My specialist has advised I isolate until the biopsy, which I am, but work will expect me back after that. I am happy to go back if it was nothing but concerned if it is and I need treatment.

Hi,

I hope your biopsy went ok today.  5cm is pretty big, and well worth checking out, I had a 73mm tumour in my groin (by the time it was removed) and it was seriously uncomfortable.  It grew incredibly fast once it had got started.

I had surgery, chemo and radiotherapy at what was then the height of the pandemic, and my doctors were far more concerned about getting the treatment done than worrying about the virus.  I don't want to downplay the seriousness of covid, as it's clearly running riot at the moment.  But I took the tumours far more seriously!

Good luck with everything.

Jon

https://knob.blog

Hi Jon

I hope you are ok. I am sorry to hear about what you have been through but glad you are getting the treatment you need.  I feel like I am on a rollercoaster of emotions at the moment. My biopsy got cancelled, as they had the results from the CT scan which stated it wasn't a swollen lymph node and a mass of 5.5cm by 5cm by 4.5cm, stating it was an obturator hernia and that I would be referred to the surgeons. Then a day later, today, I got a phone call from the cancer specialist stating that the surgeons say it is not a hernia after looking at the CT and the cancer specialist is taking back over my care and sending me for an urgent MRI scan. Can I ask, was your mass in your lymph node or not? The ultrasound scan I had said it was a lymph node, the person who has reviewed the CT scan stated it is not a swollen lymph node,just a mass then stating a hernia, which surgeons are saying it is not. How can they not know ? 

Oh wow, that's not good at all.

So, lymph nodes are usually really small.  Only a few mm across.  They can grow when they're dealing with an infection etc and they'll shrink back again when things are back to normal.

I had a primary tumour in the head of my penis (turned out to be trapped in the foreskin), and some bits broke off and went to the first lymph nodes in the chain, each side of my groin.

In my right groin was the big 73mm mass.  That started as a couple of cancerous cells in one lymph node, then kept growing until it burst the node it was in.  Then it began to spread outside it.  The doctors call that extracapsular spread.  None of the other inguinal nodes in my groin had any disease in them.

They took all the inguinal nodes out of my left groin too, but there were only a couple of cancerous cells that side in a single node.  It was intracapsular, or contained within a lymph node.

It might just be a difference of opinion between different types of doctors, rather than pure incompetence.  They wont know for sure really until they've got a sample and can send it off to a pathology lab.  So it could be all kinds of things, but they need to check regardless.

The important thing is that they're taking it seriously now, and you can get a real idea of the facts.  The MRI scan will give them a better idea of what's going on, and you'll have a chest, abdomen and pelvis scan so they can look at the whole lymphatic system.

You might have a few other tests done too.  I write about all my adventures with cancer at https://knob.blog if you're interested in all the kinds of things that go on in our hospitals!

Best of luck with the MRI, and try not to let the anxiety take over - it really could be all kinds of things

Jon

Hi

Thank you for your reply. It sounds like you have been through a lot. I will read about your adventures and thank you again for sharing your story.

Hi just wondering what your update is ?

I am awaiting diagnosis after CT scan and biopsy of a 5cm mass on one side of groin (inguinal) too.