"It wasn't nice"

I've had a lump at the base of my neck for several months finding it hard to swallow. Spoke to GP three times, two physical exams.  Lump is not going away, sometimes bigger sometimes not. 

I'm a carer of two disabled children. I live 1 hours drive from the hospital.  I also have a demanding full time job.  So attending the hospital for an xray is no easy task. It requires a lot of organisation and support from people to take care of my kids whilst I'm attending.  

At my last GP examination, the GP said they were going to put me on the Cancer Pathway - so you can imagine that my anxiety was quite high attending this appointment. 

Firstly the radiologist questioned whether I actually had a lump, examined me, physically and said they couldn't find a lump and wondered if to go ahead and carry out an xray - I've been living with the worry of this for 4 months so far and even more worried now the GP mentioned cancer.  Were they really going to send me away because they simply couldn't feel the lump, and didn't know about my inability to swallow etc.  I felt I had to justify my being there.  It made me feel really upset and sad and a bit angry that they were telling me they knew better than the three GP appointments and history I've had getting to this point - they didn't know any of it.  What would it have been to just X-ray me anyway if the GP felt there was sufficient justification to xray me.  I know things are tight at the NHS but I didn't think that I'd be questioned, after all my experience bringing me to this point, and the anxiety and worry I was carrying to be met with this behaviour. 

I just thought you should know.  It wasn't nice.  It took all of 2 minutes to get the xray. I know there's a cost associated with X-rays (but it's all digital now and no longer films being produced) but were they going to send me back because they couldn't find the lump at the time? Overrule the GP's referral?  Without knowing the full picture about swallowing - i didn't want to go into all my history and wasn't prepared for this type of interrogation from a radiologist.  What is the NHS coming to.