Hello,
New to this forum and would either like some advice or if someone can share any experience that may be similar to mine.
First of all, I do not have colon cancer but I do have colon polyp history as below:
2011 - Was having severe pain issues after traveling abroad. Saw a GI doc and he recommended a colonoscopy, which at the time scared me but was a blessing in disguise. 3 polyps were removed and one of them was precancerous and close to one inch wide.. so rather on the large side. A tattoo was marked next to the large one.
2012 - Had a follow up colonoscopy by a different Doc and the large polyp from 2011 was not completely removed and regrew so it was removed. Biopsy showed it was still precancerous.
2014 - Had another follow up scope (with a different Doc this time) and this one turned out to be a clean scope with no findings. Around 2013/2014 is around the time when I stopped eating red meat for good opting for fish, chicken/turkey or veggies instead.
Dec. 2018 - Had a follow up scope today (with a different Doc, so 4th one b/c I keep moving around) and it went well but a small polyp was found (and removed) in a different area from where the large one was found 7 years back. Which is a good and bad thing. I'm not going to worry about this but I was expecting to have a clean scope today. I'll be getting the biopsy/pathology report in a week.
With that said, some questions I have for all you lovely people:
1) Do you think this polyp uncovered today was missed in 2014 b/c it was too small to detect?
2) I wonder if I'm more susceptible to getting polyps than the average person? I don't have a family history of colon polyps or colon cx. I'm wondering if this latest polyp could be caused be my red meat diet history before I made changes in 2013/2014. I'm a firm believer from reading medical documentation that the Western diet with red meat is the main cause for these polyps.
3) With respect to diet, I do at times still eat fast food, like french fries, turkey tacos, fried chicken, etc. But I like to eat my baked goods too like cookies, pies and banana bread sometimes. Even though I don't eat red meat per se, do you think I need to cut the fast food and baked goods out as well?
4) I'm wondering how often I need to get colonoscopies in the future. Today's report says I need to have a follow up one in 5 years and hopefully the pathology report comes back as non-cancerous. Would you all think due to my history that I have to get a scope every 5 years?
5) Is there anyone on this board who has a history of polyps after a few scopes and then was able to have clean colonoscopies for the next 5-10+ years? If so, what lifestyle changes did you make? Did you become vegetarian?
Any assistance at all with my questions would be greatly appreciated.