The Colon Club

Yesterday I had my first ever colonoscopy as a test for my abdominal right side pain. Interestingly, the scope went OK through most of my colon, but the doctor could not manage to push it into my ascending colon - after trying for a while, he just gave up. The doctor said it happens sometimes, and he did not want to force the scope too much as it may result in perforated colon. To view this remaining part of my colon, I will have to go through virtual colonoscopy by CAT scan.

My question is - does this happen often and what are the causes? Can that be due to colon stenosis or tumor? I guess in that case the doctor would have told me so, but I just can't imagine why the scope, being flexible, cannot navigate the bend in the colon?

I have the same problem..doctor can only scope so far into the colon and then he runs out of scope. He told me that I have a very long colon which is unusual in most cases, but it does happen. I guess it was just the way I was born.

Hi: The same thing happened to me but on the part of the colon where the colon makes a downward bend from the transverse colon. In my case, theÈcolon was irritated by he thought colitis. He suggested a sigmoid...something or rather to see the rest.
Cheryl

As you can see this is very common actually, you have to understand that we have feets of colon all carefully placed in our bodies and there is only so much room and there are twists and turns all over and in fact I think sometimes my surgeon can't see it all either, but I never did a virtual one either.

But it is good he is trying other methods to get to the root of your problem if there is one!

Good Luck and keep us posted!

OK, so I already had the virtual colonoscopy. Was not pleasant when they started pumping air into my colon! I could barely hold it in, but I did anyways. The scan went well.
I do not know the results yet - the scan technicians did not comment. I will be seeing my doctor on Monday (April 16), then he will discuss the results. Hoping they found nothing

I hate to tell you but it happened to me and was the main reason my cancer was only identified at my next colonoscopy, several years later, by which time it was Stage 3B. My tumour was a centimetre or so above where the colonoscopy stopped. My new GI (the one who found the tumour) says she always teaches her students NEVER to give up and uses me as an the example .

Hi,
I handle the gastroscopes sometimes, and let me tell you, they are very long and manuverable (I am an OR nurse).
I will try and talk with our GI team and see if your situation occurs often.... our OR only does pt's with high aquity, that is sick pts, so I don't get to see the volume that the GI nurses do.
I am wondering, did you get scanned yet?
I hope it is nothing.
Catherine

chessamay wrote:Hi,
.
I am wondering, did you get scanned yet?
I hope it is nothing.
Catherine

Thank you for asking. I had the PET scan a couple of days ago and the results will take another week so I'll update then. However, the thoracic surgeon, looking at the same CT scan that was the reason for the PET, said he saw absolutely no sign of mets and thought it hugely unlikely that the nodules were anything more than scars from prior pneumonias. So I'm happy.