The Colon Club

I'm a 31 year old female and I want to preface and say that I have severe anxiety disorder. I don't want to write a long drawn out story, but this spring possibly early summer I had bowel problems and some blood. In July I went to the ER with diverticulitis. That has cleared up but they wanted to do a colonoscopy. I had that procedure done today. Doc said he removed a large polyp, can't remember how big but it was large. I think around an inch. I asked him if he thought it looked cancerous and he said in his experience (which he's been a gastroenterologist over 20 years) that it did not. I know that nothing is certain until I get reports back from the pathology. He said he found the polyp by my diverticulosis pockets.
Right now I'm not in a good place. I'm terrified and I have already googled too much. So much that I know bigger polyps are likely to be cancerous. The doctor didn't act concerned at all. I have a 2 year old. I don't have the mental ability right now to be strong .

Could be worse. I suffer from anxiety disorder as well. It was the main reason I demanded a colonoscopy when my PCP wasn't concerned. When I woke up I was flat out told I had cancer; it was just a matter of how far it had spread. That sucked.

You should be in a good place. If the guy whose profession has involved 20 years looking at polyps and butt cancers says it's not cancer, that's a great thing.

When I had my colonoscopy, I was told right there it was cancer, even before the pathology report. He had already set up an appointment with the surgeon the next day. So, I feel it is good news that your doctor told you it didn't look like cancer. If he thought there was a chance, he would've said. Try not to worry too much. I know it's hard, but I think odds are that it is not cancerous. Good Luck and prayers.

I know this is easy for me to say...butt...don't borrow trouble. Words of wisdom shared with me long ago.

Right now, in this moment,,,,you do not 100% have cancer. Until you are told otherwise,,,,you do not have cancer. I know it is scarey given what they found,,,,but you have to stay in the NOW. I worked that mindset even during treatment...only allowed myself to think about the current stage, stayed in the NOW, didnt allow myself to worry about what was next. It served no purpose to go there.

Today, you don't have cancer. Enjoy your child, enjoy the day and IF your doctor tells you otherwise, know that you have an amazing group of people here that will walk with you...one step at a time.

Sending you many gentle hugs...

tammylayne wrote:I know this is easy for me to say...butt...don't borrow trouble. Words of wisdom shared with me long ago.

Right now, in this moment,,,,you do not 100% have cancer. Until you are told otherwise,,,,you do not have cancer. I know it is scarey given what they found,,,,but you have to stay in the NOW. I worked that mindset even during treatment...only allowed myself to think about the current stage, stayed in the NOW, didnt allow myself to worry about what was next. It served no purpose to go there.

Today, you don't have cancer. Enjoy your child, enjoy the day and IF your doctor tells you otherwise, know that you have an amazing group of people here that will walk with you...one step at a time.

Sending you many gentle hugs...

This is good advice, I will remember. I can sometimes worry about things I cannot control. Thank you.

I know what you are going through, I have anaxiaty of sickness too. and in Juné I got a 15mm polyp removed, I was following my skopi on the doctors screen and panicked, started to cry and asked if I had cancer. He said it's almost 100% not cancer and even if 0,01% chance there is i have properly removed it all.

I spent almost a week panicking and crying, not eating then losing weight and then being afraid of the fact that I lost weight. Then I had black blood in my stool and I panicked some more calling the emergency doctor, who told me it was normal after polyp removal.

So as you can tell I was a completely mess. After a week I got my results and I was not cancer, but I had to go for a checkup skopi because he did not examine the entire colon. The skopi was clean and now I'm going back for a checkup in 3 years.

It's has became easier for me, but even now when I'm out of the woods the anxiety hits me, wish I could say it disappears when the result come but I did not, and that was hard to swallow.

So my advice is, if you can't find peace with it go seek professional help, I had to and it's hard but it's needed.

And as you can see, when the doctor says it's dose not look like cancer, then he/she knows what they are talking about.

Love to you, from me ❤️

I'm sorry you're going through this and hope you get biopsy results soon!*hugs*

I tend to be a little neurotic about illness and think about the worst, possible case even though there's no evidence that it may come about. So I know about anxiety. I ran into someone that was terrified of getting a colonoscopy and I spent a lot of time trying to reassure him that there were lots of other things that it could be. He eventually had it and found out it was something else that was minor and had a big sigh of relief and thanks for putting up with him.

I'm pragmatic. I have cancer but I try to minimize worry about stuff that might happen. It is very hard to do but we're better off doing something productive to keep our minds off worst, possible cases. Also, sometimes talking about it helps.

I'm terrified and I have already googled too much. So much that I know bigger polyps are likely to be cancerous. The doctor didn't act concerned at all. I have a 2 year old. I don't have the mental ability right now to be strong .

My word of advice. Do not Google, it makes your anxiety worst.
After the Vegas shooting, I stopped Googling. I had many friends at that event. Someone that went to my high school got shot in head. Friend of friend got shot in leg.
You don't have cancer, be thankful!