I have recently been diagnosed with Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, based on the existence of the JAK2 mutation. It started off as a routine checkup after a long-term cough, followed by blood tests and then a visit to a private haematologist (1st haematologist I saw), who provided the diagnosis, did classify it as a blood cancer with the caveat that the classification is somewhat recent (past few years I think) and referred me for a bone marrow biopsy to exclude the possibility of myelofibrosis.
This is where the problems started. As it turns out, my private GP could not action the referral because of not having access to the NHS system, so I first had to register with a regular GP. After about a month of waiting, the process was finished and my new GP referred me to another haemotologist on the 2-week fast track.
This second haemotologist (never seen in person) denied the referral on the same day, a few hours after it was issued, with a response that only confirmed the Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) diagnosis (which I already knew), said that they DO NOT classify it as a cancer and thus the 2-week fast track is inappropriate, did NOT make any mention of a biopsy to figure out which type of Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) it is and whether or not it could be Myelofibrosis and recommended a general referral to their clinic. What I just found out on the NHS app is that this new referral will be actioned by the 23rd of April, so 2 months from now.
I am at a complete loss at everything that has happenedā¦ On one hand I have a haemotologist saying I have cancer and we still need to find out how bad it is, on the other - a haemotologist that says that it is not cancer, that all Iāll most likely need is some aspirin and venesections and that Iām fine to wait months before I even see someone about it.
Anyone here have some thoughts on why there seems to be such a vast difference between two specialists? Iād be fine with the truth being that this isnāt as urgent as it first seemed, but this situation doesnāt exactly inspire any confidence in me going forward.