Post-menopausal bleeding - consultant appointment and worried

[ChristmasFairyLiquid]

Hoping someone can give me some words of reassurance or at least an idea of what to expect.

I had a post-menopausal bleed (felt exactly like a period - 5 days long with sore boobs in the run up) last month.

Contacted the doctor as you’re meant to and had an ultrasound and internal scan last week.

Have just been called for an appointment with a consultant at the hospital on Saturday which has terrified me. Does anyone know if this is standard, or what it might mean, or what I can expect? Thank you for any info.

Morning @Chrysanthemum5 I would definitely be chasing up. If you have the NHS app then try looking on there. Fingers crossed

@ChristmasFairyLiquid it's easy to forget the basics when you are in a heightened state of anxiety. Completely understandable.

I went for my pre op assessment yesterday. It was a bit of an eye opener to be honest

• The nurse was lovely. She suggested that I should complain formally about the poor attitude and rudeness of the consultant I saw last time. Apparently others have also said she was rude and dismissive to them.
• I was on the urgent list and she was visibly shocked that I've been waiting since November for my procedure and that I only got an appointment when I rang up.
• she let me see the operation notes from last time under ga , when they told me that the polyp they had gone in to remove had vanished (it was there a few days before!). She commented that polyps don't just disappear and strongly implied that it was there and they missed it. If so then it can easily explain my ongoing bleeding. Just speculation though. I was so puzzled when they told me that it had vanished but they just dismissed that as 'something that happens'.

I'm really cross now. They've treated me with contempt, delayed (either deliberately or by sheer incompetence) a much needed test and may have made a previous error. If this turns out to be something nasty I'll be even more furious. If it's a treatable polyp I'll be asking some serious questions. And I've now told them that I won't be seeing that consultant again.

So roll on 14th April. And my BP was up because I got a bit wound up and emotional in the appointment. Unsurprisingly really.

Off to enjoy a sunny weekend and to put all this out of my head. For now. If I can.

Thanks @ooooohnoooooo and @ChristmasFairyLiquid unfortunately I am in Scotland and we don't have the NHS app as the SNP want to set up their own Scottish version. No idea why they can't just use the already established one other than they think everything has to have a special Scottish version. All I can do is wait for the letter

Hi just thought I’d pop in and update - sorry to hear all the stressful waits. I’ve been very lucky - I went to hysteroscopy appointment and they gave me option of having it there and then or waiting to see if radiologist recommended an MRI for better look at suspicious cyst and endometrium. Chose to wait, was given a next day mri appointment and got results back 3 days later (nhs working at it’s smoothest) radiologist has concluded there is nothing sinister so I do not need a hysteroscopy. Hasn’t explained the bleeding but I have deeply invasive endometriosis which makes iv scan hard to interpret as everything stuck together. Hope everything goes well for everyone still waiting

Oh @ooooohnoooooo that sounds like a catalogue of bad management and terrible communication. Don’t blame you for being angry - I hope you managed to put it out of your mind and enjoy the weekend. And fingers crossed for some answers on the 14th.

@ChocoBanana great news for you, so pleased you didn’t need the hysteroscopy and your results were all fine, such a relief. And you got them quickly! Well done NHS. I’m still waiting for my blood test results from two weeks ago 🤯

Well wishes to everyone still going through it.

Hey all. Had my procedure today.

No polyps, nothing looks sinister (phew!) but lots of biopsies taken - results in a week.

So now need to work to balance hormones and get bleeding under control.

It's a relief but not over yet. Thankyou everybody for your support x women. We are wonderful creatures

Oh that sounds pretty reassuring @ooooohnoooooo - fingers crossed for the biopsy results and hope they can sort out everything else.

I still don’t have either my blood test (taken 3 weeks ago tomorrow) or the biopsy results.

I rang the dr about the blood test (which was to check the ovarian cyst wasn’t cancerous).

Apparently because the blood test was requested by the hospital my doctors have to request the result is sent through to them and that can take another week.

I can phone phlebotomy at the hospital and they may have them and be able to give them to me 🤷‍♀️. But there doesn’t seem to be any proactive process to get them to me without me seeking them out. Which seems a bit bonkers.

I’m hoping this means someone’s looked at them and put them in a ‘not urgent’ pile but really, who knows?!

Any updates from anyone? I hope those waiting for results have all had reassuring news.

I’m seeing the consultant this afternoon to get my hysteroscopy/biopsy results. So fingers crossed for that.

Still seems to be impossible to get my blood test result, which was taken on 25 March…

I saw the consultant this afternoon and my hysteroscopy results were all normal - phew! So relieved.

She suggested I contact PALS to try and unearth the results of the NHS blood test (which was to check my ovarian cyst) so I’ll do that, but she suspects it was a late ovulation and the cyst is related to that so fingers crossed she is right.

Big thank you to everyone who has shared their stories on my thread, and reassured me and others going through the same process.

To everyone still waiting on results, or whose results are more complicated, all good wishes to you all 💐

No update for me it's been six weeks now and when I call my GP they just have an answering machine message saying they are beyond the demand they can cope with so are not answering calls!

Blimey @Chrysanthemum5 that's awful. Are you able to make an appointment instead ?

finally got through to the GP receptionist who said they'd had the letter for a couple of weeks and all it said was no further action required. So I have to assume it's ok! I will go in next week and ask for a copy.

Just pretty angry that no one thought to tell me- and the hospital said I'd get a copy of the letter but I haven't

Oh, that is awful @Chrysanthemum5 the mail is so unreliable now I guess it got lost.

@Chrysanthemum5 that's such good news and I'm chuffed to bits for you. What a torturous wait though.

Hope you have a lovely weekend

Rubbish that it took so long but so pleased with your result @Chrysanthemum5!

Thanks all I'm not prone to health worry so until about week 4 of the wait I was fairly laid back but then I became worried it was taking so long because they'd found something. And DH is lovely and supportive but has a lot of work stress and other things right now so I didn't tell him how I was feeling. I kept having nightmares about it.

So, yes, I'm delighted it was all ok!

It was 6 weeks on Monday since my ultrasound and consultant apt where they told my I’d need a hysteroscopy. I knew there’d be a wait as I’ve opted for GA but this is far too long. I’ve tried to call the them this week and no one is answering so I emailed PALS yesterday to ask for support to chase up.
I just want it over with now!

The waiting is so stressful isn’t it @boombasticfantastic - is that NHS? My predicted wait with the NHS (with local anaesthetic, not GA) was 22 weeks 😱.

I know what you mean, you just want it done. I’m not very good at waiting - so got it done privately within a week, and luckily have health insurance, it wouldn’t have been an option otherwise. I think a private hysteroscopy is about £3k 😫

Hope PALS can help and you get seen soon x

A little update (or non-update really!) for anyone who’s interested - my consultant’s PA called today and told me the reason I don’t have my CA125 blood test result was because they did it in the wrong bottle (!)

Honestly! And until my consultant did some detective work, clearly nobody thought it was worth telling me this or asking me to come for another one 😤.

She’s going to arrange for me to have it redone at the Nuffield so I’m hoping they are more efficient. Fingers crossed.

Gah! Thats infuriating.

Hopefully the new one will be done quickly.

I'm still waiting for my biopsy results. Promised 2 weeks ago. I'm assuming that delay means nothing sinister found. But it would be nice to know !

I had mine under GA yesterday just under 8 weeks after my consultant appointment. It was a cancellation apt. I was actually offered a cancellation apt three weeks ago but was on holiday. And even yesterday I was booked in for late morning but was called at 8 to see if I could go in earlier as they’d had more cancellations that day!
I’ve been told I’ll get the results within 4 weeks. Was sent home with some mega-strong pain meds but so far have just got what feels like mild period pain.
Im so glad I waited for the GA option. And that I didn’t have to fight for it.

@boombasticfantastic so glad you got in -finally. Fingers crossed for your results.

I'm still waiting for mine 🙄

I'm still waiting for my results. Just chased and they said they would write to me. I said not good enough. I need a call. This is a one month wait for 2ww results and I already waited 5 months for the procedure. It's just shit.

I'm finding myself a bit emotional about it today. I had a bleed again last week.

Shocking !

S very lovely cancer nurse just called. I have no cancer but they did find a polyp.

She wasn't supposed to have called me but after my call she decided I shouldn't wait any longer for my result.

She's recommended that I make a complaint as it's unacceptable.

Seems like it's the same consultant being rubbish again.

I'm off to make. PALS complaint.

But the good news is I'm all clear

Sorry, haven’t been back for a while.

@ooooohnoooooo, your experience sounds as disorganised as mine, though I’m so pleased you eventually got your results and all is ok.

I hope you’ve made your PALS complaint, it is totally unacceptable.

@boombasticfantastic also pleased that you got your GA and fingers crossed for your results.

i finally got my CA125 results today - and all clear. Thank goodness, it’s been a v long drawn out journey. I was called by the gynae emergency team who had done the test - as the email from PALS had come to them - even though they’re not the team that are meant to pass on the results.

Apparently because my consultant isn’t based at the hospital but is just there to help clear the backlog, there’s no process for following up on his test results 🙄 - my follow-up ultrasound also hadn’t been scheduled.

Honestly, it’s hopeless, and how much money and time could they save by doing these things right first time?!

But anyway, all good which I’m very relieved about (even though I’d virtually forgotten that I was waiting for the blood test results, it had just become another bit of admin I had to chase up!)

Hope everyone stll waiting for procedures or results has positive outcomes 🤞

Had hysteroscopy and biopsy today. First time. Was an absolute wreck before hand having read the shocking stories. I hope my experience helps. Here goes...assumed mine would be awful as never had children and post- menopausal. I read up on it ( probably a bad idea but also good). I asked in advance for a pessary to dilate my cervix. Took that 4 hours before procedure. I also asked for a numbing anaesthetic gel. Did that half an hour before appointment time. Also took half an hour before 400 of ibuprofen and 400 of anadin extra. I also has a local anaesthetic injected straight into cervix. That was no worse than a dentist injection. Pain wise, nothing until the uterus was dilated with saline and then about 15 minutes of what felt exactly like the period pain I had as a teenager. Tolerable, not fun, but just like spasms. Deep breathing and a fantastic nurse helped as we chatted all the way through. Consultant was amazing, listened to me, answered my questions as she went along.

Didn't feel biopsy.

So if you are having this done you shouldn't need a GA if you have everything else! I had a cup of tea after and drove myself back. Tiny amount of bleeding after due to the biopsy. Probably some pain later when the anaesthetic wears off but they have said ibuprofen and anadin will be fine.

Get all the other things like I did. You don't have to be in pain. And a consultant who agrees to stop the moment you ask! Luckily I didn't need to.

I hope this has helped. We women don't need to put up and shut up...