I have a suspected squamous cell carcinoma on my head. It’s quite a big one and has been fairly quick growing. It’s being removed on Monday and sent off to biopsy, but I think it’s pretty obvious it’s cancer.
I also have in the past month developed a hard lump in a nearby lymph node. It’s palpable to the touch, but also it feels ‘funny’ - it’s hard to describe but sometimes I get pain or itching on the tumour on my head and it refers to the lymph node, so I get the same pain or itchy feeling there.
I’m fairly certain that there is cancer in the lymph node as well. I’m under dermatology. I have informed them of the lymph node. But they haven’t examined it. When I go for surgery on Monday, I don’t want to leave without knowing they are sending me for tests to investigate whether the cancer has spread.
Could someone who has been there already tell me what they need to send me for? I assume a scan of some sort? But what scan? And what about blood tests?
I was already fobbed off by my GP who wouldn’t refer me initially, so already had a huge delay in getting to a 2 week pathway referral, so I am literally not leaving the hospital again without knowing they are putting in motion a plan.