Doctor wants a face to face consult today after I filled in the online booking system. Now panicking !

[drivinmecrazy]

Used our doctors surgery online system this morning.
Every other time I've used it I've been offered a telephone consult, which suits me fine.

I've just got a call from the surgery saying doctor wants to see me at 3.45.

Trying not to panic now.

It's so rare to get a face to face here so now my mind is going into overdrive.

I have terrible health anxiety at the best of times but now it's gone into overdrive

I’m on 2 week pathway myself at the moment.

Yes, I saw the GP last Tuesday (though had to wait 3 bloody weeks for that appointment!). I had a call Wednesday morning with a hospital appointment. My appointment is tomorrow. 1 week exactly from the referral.

When I suspect I was technically 2 week pathway before (totally unrelated), it was a hospital consultant who did it. I had blood tests, CT scan and colonoscopy all within a week. It’s very quick when I needs to be.

I've also been on the two week pathway OP and all was absolutely fine after a scary couple of weeks. Try not to overthink it.

Go for it. I was seen recently for telling them I wake up stiff. Apparently can be a sign of something very serious. It turned out that I am stiff only for 10 min and then when move, have normal life. But got physio assesment.

Another one here who has had a few scares (I also have health anxiety and it’s really shit!). I’ve been on two week pathway two or three times. GPs are just following the correct protocol. They probably aren’t worried at all. Just ticking the boxes. I’ve always been seen quickly. And it has always been fine and everyone has been very reassuring (which is what I need!). I am sure you will be seen quickly and that all will be fine.

I’ve been on 2 week pathway three times. Once was seen within days ( and I did have lymphoma) and twice received the appointment within the two weeks for a few days after the two weeks ( post menopausal bleeding, not cancer). It’s usually fast and very thorough. Good luck

Having Just been through this myself recently I think it’s shocking that gps don’t seem to realise that “two week wait” target isn’t being used anymore and hasn’t been since last September. How are they not obligated to keep up to date on this sort of thing? The new target is based around gp to diagnosis which is 28 days.

news.cancerresearchuk.org/2023/08/17/breaking-down-nhs-englands-changes-in-standards-for-cancer-care/

I once read that worrying is like suffering the same thing twice, except most of the time the worry doesn’t come true, so you go through the experience in your head for no reason

All the best OP. Try and take your mind off it. Easier said than done I know.

I have also just recently been on a 2 week wait at breast clinic, for the third time…I always have been seen within 2 wks although I was warned by the GP with the most recent one it may be longer but it still came very quickly…in my area breast clinic is actually one of the most smoothest and efficient parts of the nhs I’ve ever been seen by and I hope it is likewise for whatever condition pathway you are being seen under.

I had blood tests and didn't even make the 2 week pathway, they rang me the same day and told me to go straight to hospital

I walked into haematology to find a consultant there at 7pm and everyone gloved and masked (way before covid) and talking about bone marrow biopsy
I'm fine! I did get a diagnosis but not life threatening

When I was on the 22w I had a phone call within 48 hours for an appointment with a consultant

2ww sorry

Just to reassure you I was referred on the 2 week pathway around 4 months ago, I had been to see the GP in the morning and in the afternoon I got a telephone call with an appointment at the hospital. I was given a scan, saw the relevant consultant then a few weeks later I had a polyp removed from my womb and told I had a cyst and they took some biopsies and a blood test to see if it was cancer. I got all the results back, had to go for another scan and will have another blood test the fingers crossed will be discharged. All it was a cyst and a polyp.

The 2 week pathway worked for me. Please be reassured that, whatever your diagnosis, you will meet an incredible team of people who are united in using all their skills and resources to treat and support you.
I called my surgery asking for an appointment after finding a lump, thought it would be a couple of weeks at best, they called me back within 20 minutes and I saw my GP half an hour later. He was great, very matter of fact and referred me on the 2 week pathway.
I had a phone call from the clinic 3 days later and an appointment 5 days after that. I had all the tests, ultrasound, biopsy’s and mammograms within that appointment and was given clear information about what time scales for results. I was called a few days later and another appointment made for the following week. Unfortunately it wasn’t the all clear but the MDT had already discussed my treatment plan so I was given lots of information and reassurance at that appointment with my consultant (amazing woman and surgeon).
It was 19 days from my call to my GP to diagnosis and treatment plan, I’m here today thanks to the amazing team of people who’ve literally saved my life and I’m eternally thankful.
I haven’t RTFT so I may be repeating pp but please contact MacMillan Cancer Support if you need to talk to someone other than family (it’s hard to express your worries and fears to the people you love and who love you), they have lots of information on their website and you can call 0808 808 00 00 8am-8pm. They have been great to me and lots of fellow patients I’ve met over the last 18 months.
I am sending love and hugs 🤗

I've been on the two week pathway twice. History of breast cancer in the family. Fine both times. Granulation from mastitis years before caused calcification hence the odd nasty infection.

I was on the 2 week pathway for suspected ovarian cancer. Turned out to be fibroids. I know it’s incredibly stressful but it means, most likely, that they can rule potentially serious problems quickly and focus on how to get to the root of what’s causing the problem.

I've just been on the two week pathway. Went for an ultrasound and it was a minor issue that can be cleared up with medication. You do sound incredibly anxious.

I do understand but don't worry, my first two week wait I was hysterical, it was for a suspected brain tumour and they run in one side of the family. I was convinced, being symptomatic, that I was unwell. All was fine. This made me determined to get a handle on my anxiety. Some 18 years later, I had three two week wait pathways in one month, during Covid. All three were found not to be sinister. One of them was the result of an e consult. I was called in and as I walked in on the screen it had NICE guidance for Malignamt Melanomas. That wasn't very encouraging. Next I had a phone call from Dermatology who asked me to come in the same day, during lunch, it seemed all so urgent and yet all was fine.

This month I was called back for breast screening and asked to come in the next day at 9am and see the consultant and have more investigative scans and a biopsy. My maternal grandmother died at 46 with BC so I was a little unnerved. The short notice was alarming but I was determined to be positive. I didn't mention it to anyone and went alone. Again it was all clear.

Try to switch off, distract your brain and keep busy.

I had a two week urgent referral pathway, appointment came through within 2 days for an appointment within 2 weeks of the first. Obviously depends on your geographic location and actual hospital department but in my recent experience 2 weeks meant 2 weeks! (And now 2 more weeks for results 😬)

@drivinmecrazy Yes last time I was referred I had an appointment in less than a week! All was fine.

This is how my GP is, @drivinmecrazy— they only allow so many phone/text appointments before they require patients to be seen in-office.

It isn’t you - it’s routine. Deep breaths.

Just to add more happy statistics, I've been referred on the 2 week pathway 3 times and it's never been anything. I've always heard within two weeks, with the appointment often falling during the third week.

(i have a health anxiety brain too so I get the fear, but was genuinely quite relaxed the last time I was referred as I now know it's just them being thorough and in the vast majority of cases it's nothing).

Please try not to worry.

I saw my GP at 11am and had a call from the hospital at 4pm to arrange my hospital appointment, which then happened two weeks later to the day. I had the all-clear on the same day that I saw the consultant.

I’m really sorry you’re going through this - it’s obviously not something anyone wants to experience. But please do try to remember that most people referred on the two-week pathway turn out not to have cancer - the odds are in your favour, so try not to forget that xx

I went to the GP with a suspicious lesion on 17 May and she referred me on a 2 week pathway. As at today I'm still waiting but I never panicked as I know 2 weeks doesn't always mean 2 weeks. Incidentally the suspicious crusty lesion came off about a week after the GP appointment, it appeared 7 months before, and not grown back.

Fingers crossed op.