Hope its OK to post here I have long term illness/chronic pain - I have been suffering for over a year now (still alive so it cant be that serious like cancer or anything) with abdomen pains above my belly button that I have only been masking pain with paracetamol and ibroprufen and rubbing and pressing the area to relieve the pain - to cut long story short I had a Abdomen Ultrasound done by Affidea (but through HSE medical card) on my abdomen last year in August (so August 2024) and the ultrasound found a incidental well defined 9cm hypoechoic mass above umbilicus (so belly button) with vascularity and suggested cross sectional imaging - well a week later my GP sent me into the hospital AAU department and whilst I was in there they done some blood tests and a couple of other tests like ecg etc and sent me to the CT department and I had a CT scan done on my abdomen with contrast - and they could find nothing wrong on the CT scan in the area mentioned in the ultrasound, stating that it was most probably an artefact of the ultrasound.
So fast forward to now i asked my GP if I could have a follow up scan seeing as it was a long time since ultrasound/CT scan just to put my mind at rest but the indication is (well it feels to me anyway) that they are very reluctant to send me for a follow up scan (well on the medical card anyway) even though i feel my pain is now worse in that area (I just want to see if the mass shows up again in the scan or has got larger or not there at all, just to put my mind at rest) but no, they are adamant that a CT scan is the clearest scan and that if the CT radiographer say's there is nothing there, then there is nothing there and that the ultrasound threw up a artefact.
so it looks like if i do want a follow up scan now (even though I have a medical card) an ultrasound will cost me something like €180 (and I would have to get a referral letter from GP, will they even do that now if they think that its not worth having a follow up scan??)
or MRi , think thats about €350 it used to be (which I think is clearer than a CT scan) but again they say its no good on abdomen its good imaging for brain hands and feet and the like but not on showing up things in the abdomen.
so I am stuck now , it sounds like they wont give me a follow up scan because the CT scan found nothing last year a week after the ultrasound was taken and they dont even want to entertain the ultrasound now because they only believe the results from the CT scan.
Looks like if I do want a scan then I will have to save up for a Ultrasound or an Mri and pay myself … but which one to go for and will they even write a referral letter if they have washed their hands of it and just believe the CT scan was clear and that was it, nothing more to be done about it? - I dont know what to do next.
I went to a hernia specialist appointment yesterday in the hospital (been waiting some time for a appointment) he said there is a small lump where my belly button is , too small to operate on and said that after an operation it would make that area weak so hernia could come back and just said keep an eye on it if it gets larger he would operate but too small at the moment , but that was my belly button but when I explained to him that the ultrasound said the 9cm mass was found above the umbilicus area he just bought up my CT scan on the computer screen and said he could not see anything there.
When he went out of room and I was talking to one of his colleagues she 'reckoned' what the ultrasound picked up was my Diastasis recti (which i have apparently, which is bulging out) but there is no pain from that area, it just looks ugly when I am sitting up from a lying down position to sitting up and in any case that bulge is a lot bigger than 9cm . - but again I asked for a follow up scan but again wouldnt send me for one. - I cannot see what the reluctancy is to do a follow up abdomen scan on me …. unless its cost, thats all I can think of .
so i think now (myself) that the 9cm above umbilicus is not the hernia behind the umbilicus , and that because the pain is not in that area where the Diastasis recti is and that maybe this 9cm 'mass' picked up in ultrasound is being missed in the ct scan and is not just an artefact or shadow as there is pain there still and feels getting worse and more swollen but the powers that be wont send me for another scan even though that one was done nearly a year ago - what do I do next? apart from keep putting up with pain and masking it with paracetamol and Ibroprufen?
Any ideas please?
