Can anyone help?

[mindreaderofdarkthoughts]

Hi all.

I had an ultrasound that showed a suspicious palpable mass with angular margins. I was referred for a mammogram but it was so high up in upper left chest wall that it wasn’t really visible. I was then referred for a biopsy, and was asked to send in my images and reports from ultrasound and mammogram first. The radiologist from that department asked for me to book breast mri first then biopsy. Fine no problem, had the mri over a week ago and my biopsy is scheduled for mid august.

However, l was told that I would get my mri results back within a week for sure, and I haven’t heard anything. It’s been almost 2. I also called the biopsy department and they said my images hadn’t been read yet. They also haven’t been uploaded to the hospitals portal where I can check my records.

Is there a chance the mri is showing something bad and they aren’t telling me the results? I just find it strange that they said I would get results and nothing, and that they hadn’t been read yet?

I usually like to work on the basis that if there was obviously something to be concerned about it would have been rushed through. So a bit of a no news is good news kind of thing, but obviously you can’t be certain of this.

hopefully you’ll get some answers soon and it’s nothing too concerning

My initial thoughts were that this is school holiday time and Radiologists, just like other people, also go on holiday, as do their admin staff, so that is probably the reason for the delay. It's not good enough and I completely understand your concerns, but it is unlikely to be anything to do with your images.

Someone more knowledgeable will hopefully come on to the thread soon, but my instinct as a patient would be to be a squeaky wheel about this. I don't think they would choose not to inform you of bad news, but I do think that perhaps your results have slipped through the net administratively. Given that there's a possibility of a bad outcome, I think I would try and take charge of the situation by calling regularly to see if the images have been interpreted yet. If you were told a week and it's been double that, then I don't think that's an unreasonable course of action. I would try to speak to the radiologist's secretary, as they will probably spot straight away if someone's screwed up, and hopefully intervene if so.

If it’s anything like our hospital where I work in East Kent, they take months to be looked at! Someone saying you’ll get results in a week probably doesn’t know this for sure and just hopes! You’d think no news is good news and hope that’s the case!