Biopsy Back, Not Out of the Woods

[Pathfindergrl28]

Mom2Two sorry your husband is going through this... My hubby is 43, & I'm a mom to two girls... I can't imagine how stressful this must be for you all. Prayers for good results for your husband!

[Cowgirl918]

I was 46 and quite ill when mine were discovered. Had much weight loss and poor appetite. They found both villious and tubulovillious. I had scopes every year until 3 years ago. (57 now) Polyps were removed each time until the last scope so they let me wait three years. Bad mistake. With your age I would also insist on annual scopes and get copies of the path reports and any scans. As long as they keep removing them and there are no villious or tubillovillious you may stay ahead of it. I was told 6 years ago that I already had genetic alteration in the polyps they removed.
I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me. I am having my mass removed tomorrow so I may be a day or so getting back. Take Care.

[Pathfindergrl28]

I was 46 and quite ill when mine were discovered. Had much weight loss and poor appetite. They found both villious and tubulovillious. I had scopes every year until 3 years ago. (57 now) Polyps were removed each time until the last scope so they let me wait three years. Bad mistake. With your age I would also insist on annual scopes and get copies of the path reports and any scans. As long as they keep removing them and there are no villious or tubillovillious you may stay ahead of it. I was told 6 years ago that I already had genetic alteration in the polyps they removed.
I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me. I am having my mass removed tomorrow so I may be a day or so getting back. Take Care.

Hi, thanks so much for your reply! I was surprised to have a tubulovillous adenoma at age 34. My GI doctor was too. He said he completely removed it though, and I have the path reports on it that say "sigmoid colon polyp." I got a second opinion from a Cleveland clinic GI doctor as well on my diagnosis, and that GI doctor said it was safe to wait 3 years before my next scope. However, waiting that long makes me a little nervous, so I'm glad I'll be having it at 2 years instead. I am Lynch negative. I was seeing blood in my stool on and off about a year and a half, and having constipation that led me to see a GI specialist. He recommended a colonoscopy. Ironically, my hubby's first wife passed away from colon cancer at age 24 (she was diagnosed with stage IV at 20). I hate that he's had to go through all of this GI stuff all over again. Good luck on your surgery. Prayers for a good outcome and results! Keep us posted.

[UnicornOnTheJayneCob]

I was in the same exact situation as your husband. I had a colonoscopy and the GI was convinced it was cancer. He took samples and sent them off to the lab and they came back benign. Both he and the surgeon said there was no way that could be right and chalked it up to sampling error.

Alas, they were right.

HOWEVER, in my case it doesn’t really matter much. I have Stage2 CRC and so might not need chemo at all. My oncologist is saying that the surgery (just had it 3 weeks ago) may be the extent of my treatment for now. But even if that sample turned out to be correct, I would have had to have the resectioning surgery anyway. Cancer or not, it was, in my case, functionally equivalent.

Same for your husband (if it winds up being stage 2 or 1). Hang in there and don’t worry too much yet. Surgery is no picnic but it isn’t so awful either. There are actually some great posts on here on the best ways to prep and what to bring to the hospital to get more comfortable. Do you know exactly where the mass is located (how many inches from the anal verge, etc)? Do you have a copy of the lab work for the samples taken? Did they give you a disc, slides, or copies of the photos they took during the colonoscopy? That might help your doctor to identify a few things about how the mass looks that will tell you a bit more about what is going on.