Sick of doctors DO I HAVE CANCER????? - Cancer Message Board

Cymidei Fier · 03-06-2004, 01:42 PM

Can anyone please help me and tell me what test i need to set my mind at ease i have a feeling that i have cancer in my stomach.

About 3 years ago i noticed a rubber ball lump in my stomach on the left side right under my rib cage. The bump is noy hard but it hurts alot everyday. So about 1 month ago i went to the doctor and he felt the lump and says it is a fatty tissue . I ask him why i hurt so much he says it is due to high blood pressure<taking meds for that now>. So i go home and a few more months go by and then i get the same lump in my right arm under the skin. About the size or a quarter.

So i go back to the doc he says same thing it is nothing.

For 7 months i keep telling the doctor that my chest hurts all the time 24/7 and my back hurts 24/7 also when i bend or move my right leg at the hip bone it hurts.

I have been in pain for over a year had the bumps for three years they don't get bigger they just hurt.

And my stomach always hurts. Also when i move from side to sie or bend any way my ribs hurt along with my back.

What is my chance that i have cancer? I am 23 years old 214 pounds 6'3 tall.

also what test do i ask for at the doctors??? If i had cancer would it have got worse over 3 years? Or is it slow?

butterflytrans · 03-06-2004, 06:36 PM

I totally see your concern cymidei. I can tell you that you don't have cancer. If this lump has been there for more than even 1 year, and it's not in the thyroid (one of the most "benign" maligant tumours in humans is a papillary tumour of the thyroid) it's not cancer. If it was cancer (especially stomach cancer) you wouldn't be able to eat, you wouldn't be able to swallow, you'd be in constant abdominal pain, you'd have bone pain, liver problems etc. etc. etc (well, not all of the stuff outside of the stomach, but any selection of the ones I listed).

Are you still able to eat? Do you vomit a lot? Do you have constant abdominal pain? Have you lost a lot of weight? Do you get night sweats?

I'm guessing that all of those are negative, and that's why the doctors aren't concerned. That said, I'm sorry that you feel that you are being brushed off, because it is the doctor's job to explain everything and make the patient feel at ease.

As for the pain you're feeling. I'm pretty sure it's unrelated. Chest pain is very hard to characterize in young people. I'm sure that you have been quite hypervigilant about all the symptoms in your body (because you think you have cancer) and that has worsened things. Honestly, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Additionally, the fact that you are 6'3" puts you at risk for joint pains anyway.

I didn't ask you something, but is there a history in your family of gastric cancer? Have you ever had a gastric ulcer?

Cymidei Fier · 03-08-2004, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by butterflytrans

I totally see your concern cymidei. I can tell you that you don't have cancer. If this lump has been there for more than even 1 year, and it's not in the thyroid (one of the most "benign" maligant tumours in humans is a papillary tumour of the thyroid) it's not cancer. If it was cancer (especially stomach cancer) you wouldn't be able to eat, you wouldn't be able to swallow, you'd be in constant abdominal pain, you'd have bone pain, liver problems etc. etc. etc (well, not all of the stuff outside of the stomach, but any selection of the ones I listed).

Are you still able to eat? Do you vomit a lot? Do you have constant abdominal pain? Have you lost a lot of weight? Do you get night sweats?

I'm guessing that all of those are negative, and that's why the doctors aren't concerned. That said, I'm sorry that you feel that you are being brushed off, because it is the doctor's job to explain everything and make the patient feel at ease.

As for the pain you're feeling. I'm pretty sure it's unrelated. Chest pain is very hard to characterize in young people. I'm sure that you have been quite hypervigilant about all the symptoms in your body (because you think you have cancer) and that has worsened things. Honestly, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Additionally, the fact that you are 6'3" puts you at risk for joint pains anyway.

I didn't ask you something, but is there a history in your family of gastric cancer? Have you ever had a gastric ulcer?

i do get abdominal pain all the time where the bump is but i have none of the other stuff that you said. I do get night sweats once in a blue moon but that is about it. every morning i feel like i will vomit but i never do so i am wondering if i have acid reflux?

timsworld73 · 03-09-2004, 07:56 AM

One way to set your mind at ease is have a Whole Body PET scan. Almost every type cancer will light up like hot spots on on the film. Next to a actual biopsy, a PET scan is the next best thing.