Hi everyone. I'm new here and looking for a little advice/ideas. Sorry in advance for the long post.
I'm a female and I turn 28 this week. I've had a really strange pain in my stomach for a little over a year and a half. It started when I was about 5 months pregnant. It is in my upper abdomen, right right of center, below my ribs. The pain is constant and sometimes gets worse with movement or after eating. My OBGYN thought it might be my gallbladder so she sent me to have an ultrasound done. It was normal, so she said it was probably just regular pregnancy pains.
After my daughter turned 1 and I was still in pain I decided to go see my PCP. She basically dismissed me and told me it was reflux or H. pylori. She had my stool checked and it was negative for H. pylori and even though I knew it wasn't reflux I agreed to take a PPI for a few weeks to see if it helped. Of course it didn't. She then referred me to a GI specialist.
At the GI office I saw a nurse practitioner who also thought it might be my gallbladder. She sent me for a HIDA scan, which showed my gallbladder ejection fraction was 32%, normal being 35% and above. I met with the GI doctor yesterday to discuss my results and he isn't convinced that it's my gallbladder at all. He threw out the word "cancer" and I've been freaking out ever since.
The doctor told me that while my HIDA scan results are abnormal, those results can change day by day. If I were to do the test tomorrow I might get a 40%, for example. And while some of my symptoms sounds like gallbladder issues, my pain shouldn't get worse with exercise or movement. I also mentioned to him that I have had issues with pretty bad constipation lately (the last 3 weeks or so) and I had previously been seen at this office (2009) because of frequent and unexplained diarrhea. In fact, I've had issues with diarrhea ever since then that I've just sort of dealt with.
The doctor seems pretty concerned and recommended an EGD and colonoscopy. He said colon cancer is a possibility he wants to rule out. I don't think I have a history of colon cancer in my family. I've had relatives with lots of different cancers and some with what my mother said was "stomach" cancer but she could very well mean colon (English is not her first language nor the first language of the relatives that had cancer).
My appointment is March 20 and I'm so anxious. Something is definitely not right with me, I just never in a million years thought cancer, especially colon cancer, was a possibility. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice for me? Thanks in advance.