To be worried about what woman in x Ray said

[Member327967]

Hi, I’ve posted here for traffic and I’ll try to keep it brief;
I had a malignant melonama skin cancer in 2011, had a wider excision on my lower back and went into remission for 5 years then was dismissed. Haven’t thought much about it since.
Around 3 months ago my back started getting really painful aches from around 3am every night, and it’s got worse and worse to the stage where I can’t get into a position that doesn’t hurt.
Went to doctors before spending money on a new mattress; doc checks my flexibility (I do yoga) and said great flexibility so ruled out sciatica based problems. Then he lifted my top up, asked about the scars and when I told him about the melanoma he seemed very focused on that, going on about x Rays and how I must be worried and we need to get it checked. That freaked me out in itself as I hadn’t even thought it could be related.
Anyway, went to x ray that afternoon at local hospital, lay down and asked the woman (technician/radiologist/not sure) if I got the results now or if they got sent to doc as it’s been ages since I’ve been in hospital. She said no it’s sent to docs, I said ok and she took two x rays. Then she came up to me and said “all done, I’m going to put these on fast track as urgent to the radiologist, I’ve been where you are and I know you must be worried”.
Aibu to be even more worried by this comment? I would have thought that urgent fast tracks would be for if they can see something has shown up, not to make a patient feel better! (I’m not complaining of that is the case ) She said ring in the morning (today=Friday and if not ring again Monday, and if you are pestering them never mind). I don’t know what they can tell when they are taking them - can they see the image straight away? If so and she could see nothing was there I would have thought she would have said something like try not to worry/nothing to worry about etc (I know they are limited to what they can say though).
I think I’m a bit more emotional about it at the moment as one of my friends has been re-diagnosed with cancer and it’s spread eberywhere- has come as a massive shock.
Sorry to ramble on, would appreciate if anyone in the know could advise.

And Spied You cannot win, as a HCP.

I have a lovely, lovely friend who was a MRI radiographer.

One day, she had a desperately claustrophobic patient attend, who really, really wanted to go through with her MRI as she was desperately worried and knew the MRI was the gold standard for diagnosis of what they were querying.

So, my friend, against subsequent newer regulations, now, stood in the room with the patient, ear defenders on, holding her hand (for half an hour...) and told her scanning colleague to shorten the sequences, as far as possible, so the patient would be in there for as short as possible.

Now, there are ways and ways of shortening MRI scans. All ways do have an affect on the image quality, but the skilled operator knows where the money is, which sequences are more likely to supply the answer having read and understood the request, (thus must have as many bells and whistles attached as possible- to be 'quality', and be done first, even out of 'conventional' sequence); and which sequences are 'confection' thus can be shortened without serious detriment to the final outcome. While bearing in mind that if the patient bails , they've done the 'money' scans, first.

So, my friend gets the patient through the entire, modified scan (with a wrung out hand!). Patient is very, very grateful.

Then writes a letter of complaint saying she feels she was short-changed as she didn't get 'the full scan'....

Any tips for a good nights sleep send them my way , I've always slept on my side and since my pregnancies I've had a pillow between my knees which has become habit, and another pillow under my elbow. Now the pain kicks in and wakes me up at about 3am a every morning, after which I don't sleep I just toss and turn. I kick my pillows out and end up in I guess what would be the foetal position (diagram attached ) and I've been just able to doze for a bit then turn and do the same on the other side, however last 4 nights even this position doesn't help.

Member327967 I hate to say this, but actually, I may stop doing it if your experience has made it worse for you! HCPs try and alleviate suffering, not contribute to it.

In your shoes, I completely 'get' that the worst bit must, highly likely be 'the wait'. Often, and I can't speak for everyone, the 'now knowing what I am dealing with and what my options are' seems to upset people rather less. I really found that at The Royal Marsden.

A lot of research suggests the 'not knowing' is the hardest part (and again, I can't speak for the OP). 'Fast tracking' HCPs try and take some of that pain away, the wait, from really worried or frightened people, who just may get unhappy news.

We do our best, we try and judge each patient as an individual human being.

Should say 'try and judge each individual's circumstances', not judge the patient.

Member327967, sorry, my final input. What I mean is I will in all likelihood still fast track images (tho am a lot less likely to if, after 35 years' experience, I can't see any issue, despite the really worried patient), but maybe won't tell a patient I've done that?

Do you genuinely think that might be a better way to go?

@Miljea bless you I'm sorry if I've made you question what you've done. I'm 100% sure she thought she was being kind and helping, it just threw me. I was going to ask her (in a half jokeyway which I tend to do) if I had something to worry about but I didn't because I get that it's not their/your job to diagnose/tell the patient. Wishing I had though as maybe she would have given me a wink and said probably nothing to worry about?! Maybe not though haha xo

@Miljea and yes it is definitely the waiting that's the worse - when I was diagnosed it was because a mole had changed, they cut it off and said 99.9% nothing to worry about so I forgot all about it, two weeks later on the 19th December my doctor rang me at 8.30am and said please can you come in today before we close for holidays (raf doctor as my husband used to be in the raf) and asked me to bring someone with me! I was bricking it and guessed it must have been my mole as the pregnancy was going fine. When he told me I just nodded and asked questions, and made a joke of it to my mum afterwards but my husband took it quite hard. One of the only times I've seen him emotional and super romantic haha.

Member327967 Yes, I think she was being kind, too. But believe me, there's no way any radiographer would admit 'there was something to worry about'! That way lies at best, de-registration; at worse, court!

The general theory goes that you cannot divulge medical information without the authority to elaborate on that; without the legal ability to discuss the implications of those findings, to ponder differential diagnoses ('it is probably this, but it might be that'); and then plan a forward pathway, to move forward.

A quick glance at your xrays won't have allowed anything other than 'yep, it's all on, properly imaged'.

As I said before I feel sure the radiographer was being nice (as have you been), not 'alerting you' to anything.

And I like your diagram!

Super romantic is always good

Hi. I'm a radiographer. In our trust, a 2ww referral would fast track a report as protocol, it may be different in other trusts.

If I saw something, I'd probably fast track the report without making a point of it so as not to alarm you. Then it would be picked up quicker without having to worry you in the meantime .

Hope everything goes well

It depends on each hospitals protocol. We only usually urgent image reporting for kids, active infection or if we see something suspicious on the first x-ray. We also never do a lateral unless we see something bad in the first one. But some hospitals do them routinely so it’s hard to say.

So I called this morning and the results are through - all clear and no problems to be seen on the x Ray
Thank you all for your advice and kind words, next step is trying to work out what is actually wrong as still not sleeping past 3am but big sigh of relief. My lovely colleagues have been waiting all weekend to hear to (my mum is my boss and told them all last week ) so I think it means a big chocolate bar later to celebrate xo

So glad to hear that, and yes a celebration is in order.
At least now you know that whatever the cause is, it is not something incredibly serious. I would go and see a physiotherapist for an assessment session. I was having pain that my GP had no idea what caused it. The physio knew within a few minutes of the assessment what the issue was.

So pleased for you! Enjoy the chocolate...

That's fantastic news!
At least you know it's nothing nasty causing the sleeping issues. Have you tried hypnotherapy? I had several sessions at the beginning of the year for my chronic long-term insomnia

So, I, and others, were right.

The radiographer was just trying to be nice!

😊

Fab news. Physio next I assume?

Aw I love a happy update !

I've got a follow up doctor appointment next week and I'm also waiting for the physio appointment - had a phone call assessment and she said she would send some exercises out in the post and will put me down for an appointment. Looking at mattress toppers as an interim possible solution .
Don't suppose anyone has tried one of these 100 day free mattress offers from somewhere like Simba? Thinking at least I could try a different mattress to see if that helps without having to pay if it's not the problem?!! Xo

We tried a memory foam mattress on a 40 night trial, via Dreams.

It felt so comfortable in the shop, but after a week, we both admitted we hated it. You sink down into it, and it contours to you. Then you just don't move all night, so wake up with 'pressure sores', as it were!

We had to keep it for 40 nights but then we changed it for another one with a much thinner layer of memory foam on it, and it's been fine.

I have a simba mattress and it's lovely .. I have a bad back , bad bones .. everything really 🙄 and it does help .

I wouldn't be concerned about them fast tracking the results. It just means they will prioritise the reading of the xrays and respond quickly. I hope you get good news very soon.

I'm sorry, I hadn't seen your update. Great to hear you got the all clear. Did your Doctor check your kidneys? They can cause back ache.

IKEA do a good mattress topper.

My thoughts are:
Memory foam doesn't always help - in my case, my back needs an orthopaedic mattress to help it "stretch out" again overnight. I had a 2" memory foam topper and threw it out after a few nights as my back had stayed in the same compressed position it had acquired through the day, so was getting worse each day because there was no stretching at night. I know it's great for some people, but definitely not for me.

If the physio doesn't help, have you considered seeing an osteopath? I found the osteopath invaluable in sorting out my back positioning, as the physios just weren't able to do what was needed and exercising didn't help the pelvic tilt and spinal curves I had. Also fixed my transitional vertigo! Personally I prefer osteopaths to chiropractors, although some people swear by chiros, mostly because an osteopath will tend to treat your whole spine whereas some chiros will only address the area you tell them is the problem.

Finally, therapeutic deep tissue massage might be of benefit - if there are any scar tissue adhesions, then massage can help with these (where stretching won't); and although your pain may be muscular, stretching doesn't always fix everything so a massage might make a difference.

I'm very pleased for you that the X rays have shown the "all clear" on the secondaries front - now you just have to try other routes to fixing your back pain. Good luck!