Hand hold please, lump on tonsil and hospital appointment

[Worksforme]

Not me, DH. He’s had a white spot on his tonsil for just over two weeks, sent a photo to his GP, it was seen by a paramedic who said it looked like a tonsil cyst but made an appointment to see the doctor. He saw her yesterday, she said there were no red flags but she’d refer him to the ENT department but not as an emergency and she’d send the photo as well. The hospital rang this afternoon and he has an appointment next Thursday. We had a terrible 2022, lost one close relative in five weeks after a brain tumour diagnosis, another is having treatment for stage 4 ovarian cancer and our dog died of oral cancer. We are programmed to expect the worst. Has anyone any experience of this or reassurance?

I worked in hospital admin back in the day and it was standard practice to fill up any empty clinic spots by calling patients to offer the appointment. We would prioritise new referrals for this because it got them off the referrals list and onto the clinic list which made our stats look good - e.g. "89% of patients are seen within three weeks of being referred!"

FWIW, I've had a lump on my tonsil for about 15-20yrs now and it's absolutely nothing, just one of those "bodies are weird" things. It's such a nothing that I can't get it removed on the NHS as there's no clinical need to remove it.

Thank you so much for that reply. It is so hard to put perspective into things at the moment as we are both on our knees looking after frail relatives as well as supporting those going through bereavement and treatment, this helped so very much, accept flowers and a hug!

You're welcome.

I sincerely hope it's absolutely nothing which is the most likely of all scenarios

Thank you all for your help, it’s a benign cyst. How amazing is the NHS? DH rang the Doctors 14 days ago and was seen by a consultant today.

So happy to hear this.. ♥

Excellent news!