To be worried about cancer

[User527272]

I’ve got small Petechiae spots on my body which I know can be a sign of blood cancer. I also have a pain in my wrist which again can also be a sign. Anyone else has similar symptoms and had a minor health condition?

Yes the lab would see the results and flag them straight away if that were the situation, they wouldn't wait for the GP to see them in the normal run of things and then contact you. Whoever ran your bloods in the lab would be able to see if your counts were very deranged (the results show the normal range for comparison so it doesn't take a Dr to interpret that), and it would be full steam ahead from there.

Thank you. Could it be that they haven’t been tested yet? Would they definitely have been tested within 24 hours?

POC bloods can be back within the hour, I'd be very shocked if yours hadn't been processed by now. Honestly, you are worrying about something v unlikely at the moment

The bloods would have been tested by now. Different bloods have different time limits they need to be tested within. Full blood count is 24 hours if I remember correctly. Certainly no more than 48 hours. If not tested within that time, a new blood sample has to be requested.

And has already been mentioned, any worrying results would be flagged by the lab. Generally they pass on the results to a haematology Dr to review primarily. From there the patient's GP would be contacted directly to call the patient in. If it's out of hours then the lab contact the out of hours doctors, who then contact the patient to come in. I too know of when an ambulance was called for the patient. It was out of hours, and no one could get hold of the patient by phone, so an ambulance was sent directly to their address. That situation was critical at that time though, the bloods indicated the patient needed immediate medical attention.

Thank you for the reassuring replies. Would you say that I’ve definitely had a full blood count done if they checked for iron and infection markers? The other thing the gp mentioned was a low blood platelet count would I have been called in if this was the case?

OP honestly, if you had an undiagnosed acute leukaemia any blood test would show neutrophils so low it would be obvious to a lab tech and you'd be in front of a haematologist pronto. When you have an untreated acute leukaemia it is blindingly obvious from your bloods no matter what the GP was looking for when the bloods were ordered, a trained monkey could look at a print out and see the result which is outside normal range, the normal range is printed right there next to the result and abnormal results are printed in red not black (where I work anyway). None of this seems to be reassuring you much though?

My youngest son had aml and would have these only whilst on very intense rounds of chemotherapy as he had no platelets in the blood.
It was never a symptom for him.
I often get them and so does my other son and I'll panic as I recognise them but it's always nothing. I reckon a lot of people have them and don't know or find out what they are. Mine come and go. As above said when exercising sometimes, maybe when hot. I have had a recurrent UTI and now have them on my bottom 🙃(tmi)
I wouldn't worry. If you are then go to the GP and they'll run bloods.
From the experience I have had if you did have a blood cancer that's took over the platelets I would think you would have more symptoms to suggest so and maybe bruising, nose bleeds etc.

OP you sad you don't have health anxiety but you are worried that the combination of petechiae and pain in your wrist might mean you have cancer although you haven't said what bought you to that conclusion Both of those things can be caused by any number of things which are not cause for concern and are probably not related. You have received quite a number of reassuring responses here and yet to keep looking for reasons to continue to worry. It sounds very much like you have health anxiety and it might be worth seeking some advice for that.

If your GP was querying a low platelet count you would have had a full blood count. Its a pretty standard, common test that can rule out or indicate a huge number of things

What @nothingcomestonothing said
Mine were so low I was called and shoved off to hospital straight away. I was a bit alarmed to walk into the Macmillan unit, turns out I had a rare blood condition. I'm fine - ok prone to infection and shielding but it's nothing life limiting

Thank you. I guess I’m worrying about nothing and it’s unlikely to be something serious. ClientQ Glad you were ok.

I called the doctors today and they said that the have the results but won’t be looking at them till Thursday at the earliest as needs to be the same doctor that requested them. It’s just making me worry more.

*24/05/2020 21:51nothingcomestonothing

OP honestly, if you had an undiagnosed acute leukaemia any blood test would show neutrophils so low it would be obvious to a lab tech and you'd be in front of a haematologist pronto. *

You don't need the Dr to review them to be confident you do not have a life threatening disease for the reason given above.

Is it literally they are completely normal due to amount of time they are taking to view them?

OP how would I know. You have been given multiple, very logical reasons to feel reassured you don't have cancer or any other serious health issue but you are not reassured so I don't think I have anything else useful to say except get out and enjoy the sunshine.

I don’t know what happens in hospital labs, but from what happened to me, I’m sure they must have a klaxon first when anything is badly out of range

Because I had bloods taken for a completely different reason on a Wed, GP ringing me on Thursday tell me a haem appointment has been made for me Friday am at nearby teaching hospital.

It takes about 30 mins to run the actual test and labs seem to aim to do them the day received it or the next day if they come in late.

What takes the time is for all the right people to review/check results and send to whoever ordered the test.

But if you get leukaemic levels, then it doesn’t go into the routine queue / it’s straight to haematology do not pass go

I won’t dismiss your worries - the symptoms of leukaemia are very non specific. I hadn’t noticed I’d got it, but some signs were there (with benefits of hindsight)

But I’m sure that a worrying set of results will be reviewed and auctioned promptly. Do on that wholly unscientific basis, I think the more time that passes, the less likely a serious problem

Thank you iVampire for your helpful reply. (: