A Personal Post I Would Like To Share

First of all, don’t panic Captain Mannering.  Some of you will be wondering who the hell Captain Mannering is; showing my age now.  Anyway back to the post; I’ve just found a lump.  I’ve known for a couple of weeks now that I’ve got a lump.  To start with I thought I was imagining it.  You prod it and poke it from all directions.  I even got my old college anatomy and physiology workbook out to look at the location and decided it looked the approximate area where an ovary would be.

I’ve Just Found A Lump

Before I go any further; the lump I have found is in my lower abdomen; below the belly button and to the left.  I’ve known there was a hard area there for a while but thought nothing of it; there is also a pucker in the skin in that area that appeared about a year ago.

However, one night recently while in bed I turned over and consequently had a sharp pain in my tummy.  I immediately put my hand there and the pain subsided quite quickly.  Because this happened I started prodding and poking the area as you do; to try and work out what it was.  Dr Tracey – who was I kidding?  But what I did find out was that it wasn’t a flat hard area but it was an actual lump.

Who Do You Tell?

It left me feeling a bit scared I won’t lie and straight away I checked my armpits for swollen lymph nodes etc.  Thankfully I didn’t find any.  The following morning I filled in an online consultation form for my local GP.  I’d had some blood tests the previous week and I saw him yesterday so he could feel it and also get the blood results.

At this point, I hadn’t told my children as I didn’t want them to worry unnecessarily.  He had a good prod and feel and said he wasn’t sure what it was so he is sending me for an urgent scan; which I think will be sometime over the following 2 weeks.  I was a little relieved in some ways the fact that I wasn’t imagining it and also that he wanted to have it investigated.  At the moment I’m not too worried as it could be absolutely anything.  I told my children last night; I wasn’t going to but I thought it best in the end and I felt relieved doing it.

Why Am I Telling You This?

I could have kept this to myself but this morning I was thinking about the past couple of weeks; how stressed I’ve been, worried, how long it felt waiting to see the doctor, checking on Dr Google about all your symptoms, not being able to talk about it with your loved ones.  And just looking online to find someone who had a similar experience.

I was laying on my bed and it came to me; I had a lightbulb moment (they do happen sometimes) and I just wondered how many other people are like me right now; in this very same position.  I imagine it’s a lot so I thought the best thing that I could possibly do is to write about it so that it will help others going through the exact same thing.  I also know by sharing and talking about this it will definitely help others.  And as a result, I also think sharing this kind of thing with people can be cathartic for me as it helps to process your thoughts and on a deeper level.

Moving Forward…

I have to have a specific blood test next Tuesday which is a CA125 blood test. CA125 is produced by some ovarian cancer cells.  A high level suggests the presence of ovarian cancer but not always as sometimes it is higher than usual with people with endometriosis, fibroids, and pregnancy.  But it’s a good place to start.  Now I am definitely not pregnant, I do not have endometriosis but haven’t got a high level of knowledge about fibroids but don’t think I have those from what Dr Google said.

So as I said I will share this journey with you good and bad and hopefully it will help someone; even if it helps just one person it will be worth it.   If you are in the same place as me right now please remember that it could be absolutely anything.

If anyone would like to write to me or leave a comment or share with someone it might help please do.

Love & Light

Tracey xXx