Is this normal practice for teen cancer?

[3kidsandmore]

Good morning,

Wondering if anyone can please shed any light for me?

My little brother found a lump in his groin a month ago and saw his GP straight away. Two weeks later it'd grown so he had blood tests.

Last Friday we were told the blood tests suggested lymphoma.

Yesterday was his 17th birthday and also the exact day the hospital wanted him in for a chest xray, ultrasound of the groin and further blood tests. Before leaving yesterday evening, he was given a time for surgery to remove the lump... this morning at 11am.

Does anybody know whether the speed at which they're working is indicative of their suspicions that it's not just early stage lymphoma?

They aren't giving much away because they need to assess all pieces of the jigsaw understandably (scans etc and the lump itself).

I'm just worried that they're going straight for lump removal rather than biopsy first and why it's all much quicker than our mum's mastectomy in 2015.

Thanks in advance for any opinions or sharing of similar experiences.

Excision biopsy would be pretty usual for these types of cancer rather than aspirating - they're quite biologically different to solid tumours in adults. It can often feel for families in children's cancer that things move very fast but it's usually for positive reasons ie avoidance of delays in an unusually responsive service.

Hope all goes well for you, it's a big journey for a everyone involved. Your team should be available to talk through the current thinking at all stages as you go along.

Hope everything goes well. 💐

No experience but wishing your family well OP.

Hope the op went well today

Thank you so much everyone. The op went smoothly and he is home with our mum at his beckon call.

I hadn't realised that his op was an excision biopsy rather than aspirational. Learning more every day! We won't know any more now re treatment plan etc until after Christmas.

We just need to try to carry on as normal as best we can but it's so hard. I was 13 when he was born at home. I was the first to hold him, named him with my mum and took him everywhere in his buggy as I was so proud of my long awaited sibling.

When I began driving at 17 he was very spoilt by me and has been ever since. We've been close since day one and he gave me away at my wedding 3 years ago as my dad died of cancer.

He has to get through this.

I really really hope he does x x x

Oops, I meant 'beck and call'.

I come on here to vent and seek advice because I'm not going to the appointments with them. My mum claims to ask all the questions but either doesn't retain the info well, or just doesn't relay it very well to me!

I wish I could go but I live 30 mins away and have my 3 young children at home as hubby works Mon - Fri. Fortunately my mum & little brother live almost immediately next door to the (fantastic) hospital.

I can only speak to 16 and under. For that group, I'd expect them to see a paediatrician within 24 hours of the GP saying "I'm now worried that this is cancer", and that if the paediatrician was worried they'd see a paediatric oncologist at a tertiary centre (can be some distance away - ours is several hours) within a further 24 hours. They'd often be admitted at that original meeting with paed onc, in order to get tests and if need be treatment started straight away. At 17, might still be under paed onc, or might be under teenage and young adult team. Either way, yes, would commonly be that fast.

2 week wait to even be seen like the adult world? Fuck that.