AIBU to think this is bad news? (potential cancer diagnosis)

[Golaz]

Hi ,
Posting here for traffic.
My dad has had some worrying symptoms (peeing blood etc). He had a cystoscopy which was clear. He then went for a CT scan two weeks ago. Today he got a call from the hospital receptionist asking him to come in for a MRI scan tomorrow or Wednesday, no further information. Does this definitely mean the CT scan has picked up something worrying? Can't they diagnose just with CT? So worried for him. If anyone can shed any light on the normal process and what this means, that would be so helpful...
TIA
x

Bump in the hope people have some experiences to share! (Good or bad).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7824127/

hopefully just a UTI, has anything else changed in how he presents e.g. confused? X

Not exactly the same but my mam was diagnosed with breast cancer. Had to have chest x-ray, was called in for CT scan - showed nothing. Later on when she had heart issues 4 times chest xrays showed something (once a Dr told me they thought she had lung cancer) and she had to have CT scan. Every time CT scan showed nothing. We were told an x ray or scan can show lack of clarity/an anomaly and they check with another scan.

They are probably just clarifying .

Basically, no one on the Internet can tell you. The CT has shown a finding that would be better seen using an MRI (different modality so can see some soft tissue better), that's all you can tell so far.

Also if it is cancer, which still doesn’t always mean they won’t make it, my dad had cancer a year or so ago went for surgery and 3 months later was fully back to health (well the health level of pre cancer) this is also quite useful to understand steps:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bladder-cancer/diagnosis/

🤍x

Or the CT didn't show up anything, so they're looking in a different way to see what could be causing his symptoms.

Thank you all for your insights. I just wish they’d offered a little more info , like “we saw something on CT and need to take a closer look”, or “we are ordering MRI for a different reason” etc.. but nothing .

You can always call up and ask why.

If you are sure his cystoscopy was 100% clear then unlikely to be bladder cancer.

None of us can answer this clearly but your father can request a copy of his CT scan results. Or if you know what type of MRI scan he is having that may indicate what area they need to look at

Wow I didn’t know they used these scans to diagnose an infection.

He’s not confused. He’s been having some “discomfort” and difficulty urinating. And he passed a lot of blood a couple of weeks ago.

i suggested this too him but he was very negative about the idea he’d be able to get hold of anyone with any information. I think he’s really anxious now.

Thank you. Do you know how he can request a copy of the CT scan results?

Better to wait for the MRI results as well - no benefit would be gained from having only half a picture at the moment whilst they're still investigating.

it could really be anything but asking for a copy of the scan which your dad would get if he asked won’t mean anything unless you know what your looking at. If it was me I would ask my dad to phone in and ask for a doctor to call his daughter to explain the scan results and reasons for follow up (assuming you don’t have the right to know without his permission) try not to worry until you know more x

Hi, reassuring that cystoscopy was clear which likely rules out bladder cancer. Do you know what type of MRI scan has been requested? They may want to look at his prostate as a cause of the symptoms if it’s an MRI prostate. Do you have the phone number of the urology nurse specialist team- they are there to help and answer questions like this, they can go into ct results with you and explain the need for the MRI scan too? I would call them and write any questions down to ask them in the morning. Hope you get it sorted x

Thank you so much for this, it’s really reassuring and helpful. Actually the CT didn’t look at the prostate so the MRI could be for this ? 🤞🏻🤞🏻? His scan is this morning but he still doesn’t know what they are actually scanning. I guess he will know more shortly.

Thanks so much everyone for the input and advice.