The Dumb Way to a Diagnosis (I hope not)

[Littlefish]

Hang in there Tara.
Yes, frustrating info about your Dad- no offence guys - but some of them aren't as good/or just try to ingnore the medical stuff- many of us must have Dad's like that. My Dad had pre cancerous Polyps removed at 59, so that wouldn't of helped me with the 15 years earlier. But my Dad has 3 Brothers, one is still putting off his first colonoscopy- I had some more firm gentle words on the weekend (esp as my Paternal Grandmother passed away from Colon cancer).
Keep remembering you can't change the outcome (still pretty low, low, low, chance it will be bad news) you can only change how you best handle the information. That seems to help me. And you'd be suprised, you just get on with it somehow.
Kath

[RxBrat1979]

I just got done interrogating him for 30 minutes about his whole family and what they died of. I know my mom's, but my dad seems to think the less I know the better. This in turn is not making me feel a whole hell of a lot better about Wednesday. Everyone keep reassuring me that the numerous x-rays I had would have at least showed something abbynormal. It's all the hope I can hold on to right now. So far all I know is:

1. My GI specialist is way over happy. he actually exclaimed to me on my consult that "they have good drugs that will make me feel really good".
2. MyGI specialist is very cute. Young, dark hair blue eyes and he's going to be staring at my ugly overly white butt all while pile driving a tube up my butthole.
3. I had an ER visit in August where they were suspecting some tummy abnormality and did a stool sample. Sent me home with the all famous line "if we find something, we'll call you". They did a chest x-ray too. Saw nothing. So if it spread, it's making a happy home in my liver.
4. My poop is normal looking (well except the white mucus and blood streaks), with the exception of tonight where there was NO blood.
5. Nothing hurts. No belly aches. Just a little burn when I have a BM, then nothing.
6. I DEFINATELY haven’t lost weight.
7. No more tired then usual. I have a terrorist 3 year old, but I wake up everyday at 5am and drift off to sleep at 11pm.
8. I have a 64 ounce lime Gatorade Lime in my fridge and 4 laxatives awaiting their mission in my GI tract.
9. I am scared shitless, no pun intended.
10. I thank you all for putting up with me for 3 weeks.

I keep looking at the Miralax and gagging. Tomorrow is gonna be fun!
All hail the porcelain god!

[NWgirl]

I think the fact that you have had to wait so long for a colonoscopy is encouraging. When my colo-rectal surgeon read my file - that my OB/GYN had sent over to her, she called my house and asked me what I'd eaten that day - as she was hoping to get me in the very next day to get scoped. I'd had a bagel and coffee that morning so she decided there wasn't time for me to do the appropriate prep - but she still had me in 3 days later. Dummy me still believed it could be hemmerhoids. But again - if the docs had any real suspicions or concerns, I'm sure you would have been in already.

[Magnolia]

Not all polyps are pre-cancerous. Your dad's thing may have had nothing to do with your genes. It may have had a lot more to do with being "knee deep in chemicals". But it's still good you're getting scoped. At least the earring bought you an excuse. Otherwise you'd have had a hard time making a case for it to your insurance company, since your dad didn't actually HAVE cancer. (He didn't, right?) There are so many other reasons why you could be bleeding, there's no need to panic. Keep in mind it is probably NOT cancer. And if it is, remember most of us are alive and doing well. Many of us are disease free. Some people you AREN'T seeing on the board are people like you who posted for a while because of symptoms that turned out not to be cancer. You are very likely to turn out to be one of them, not one of us. Still, with your dad's history, stay on top of this for life. Better to remove a polyp than a chunk of colon. Most colorectal cancers are treatable and beatable, but preventable is better.

[Magnolia]

>>Is there any medical reasons not to have them done yearly? <<

As a matter of fact, yes. Sometimes. It depends on how high risk you are. For those at very high risk, the risk of cancer may be higher than the risk of complications from the scope itself. In those cases, scopes should be started earlier and done more frequently. When the chance of cancer is low, relative to the chance of complications of the procedure, better to hold off on the scope. MOST CRC is diagnosed in people over 50. Now, that tells me that the polyps were in there up to 10 years earlier. Good argument for screening at 40. 30 for those with family history. A significant minority of cases are diagnosed in people younger than 50. This is important. It's a SIGNIFICANT minority. That's means enough to count. Enough to make a difference. They're saying people should be screened 10 years younger than the age at which their youngest CRC relative was diagnosed. That's when the polyps start forming. Some of them grow faster, but they're rare. People with relatives who were diagnosed in their 20's should be screened in their teens.

I have to put in a word of caution here. Colonoscopy is not a 100% safe procedure. Nothing invasive is 100% safe. Complications are rare, but they can happen. Bowel perforations can happen and can cause very serious problems. I personally had a serious cardiac arrythmia after one of mine. (probably due to dehydration from the prep) My point is stuff happens. It's not a good idea to scope every healthy, asymptomatic, low risk young person in their teens or 20's, as has been suggested in some posts, or to scope too often, unless there's a good reason. We'd be exposing too many people to too much risk when the vast majority of them were at no risk of cancer in the first place. Usually they DO scope yearly for the first couple of years after CRC treatment to be sure there's no local recurrence, but quickly go back to every three to five years as soon as reasonably possible. The take home point here is that there are risks and benefits to scoping and to holding off. They have to be considered in each case. Which is the greater risk for that patient given the particular case history? Every now and then, it's going to come out wrong. What I would love to see is a good, safe, less expensive, non-invasive screening test we COULD use every three to five years on everyone starting at age 20 or so, regardless of family history, and without any argument from insurance companies. THAT will take some research dollars. Anybody got some?

[garbovatwin]

Prep day.
I know you have a 64 once Gator Aide waiting, but try to drink more if you can.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, as these meds clean you out by pulling water from other parts of your body to do so.

Just drink a lot, and when you think you've had enough, drink a little more and you'll be fine.

Hey, what if they remove an earring instead of a polyp?

jamiana

[RxBrat1979]

Prep day.
I know you have a 64 once Gator Aide waiting, but try to drink more if you can.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, as these meds clean you out by pulling water from other parts of your body to do so.

Just drink a lot, and when you think you've had enough, drink a little more and you'll be fine.

Hey, what if they remove an earring instead of a polyp?

jamiana

I don't know how to feel about that. If they find it, I'm going back to the hospital where they did the obstruction series and ask to see the x-rays. They put me though all this and, whoops- there's tara's half-karat diamon earring and they missed it. it just dragged down her large instetine and caused a boo-boo.
My dad's pylop was non-cancerous (as per him). I even got my mom on the phone and grilled her. He told me he hasn't had another once since his last scope in 2008, which was also non cancerous.
Yes, today is "draino" day. I get to pop my two bisacodyl at 3pm with 8oz of geen gatorade then start the whole Miralax party. Then to top it off, i get to take two more bisacodyl at 9pm! I'm never going to sleep! I banned everyone but my husband from the house. His mom is watching my daughter so I can safely have the toilet to myself. Now the trick comes as to what to keep me from chewing off my hand in hunger. I have comcast up here in Philly so I already started watching the China Syndrome OnDemand, so I guess that will have to keep me going all day. Any other suggestions?

[Ivona]

RxBrat:

Have fun with your colon cleansing exercise...we've all been there, done that, got the t-shirt. To help you stay full and not chew off your own hands, make some jello. It feels more like a solid and may help fill you up. I also ate/drank a lot of broth.

Let us know how you fare!

[Magnolia]

You'll get through this. Drink drink drink. Lots of stuff besides water. You need to replace all those good electrlyes as well as the fluids. The sports drinks and the broths are good. And this is one time a little sugar is good for you. You need to run on something in the short run. You need a few calories, and sugar is about your only choice, except for the little bit of protein in the broth. Slurp it up. I didn't drink enough the second time because I was queasy and I got into trouble. Actually, very watchful eyes and quick action got me OUT of trouble in a matter of seconds, so I can't complain. But there ARE good reasons to drink a lot of stuff.

[Magnolia]

It was actually my surgical prep when I got into trouble. I did it days after the scope prep and wiped out my fluids and electrolytes. I was puking through the second one. This stuff is useful, but must be handled with care.

[RxBrat1979]

Guessing white wine and vodka isn't a good hydrating choice . I drank a Powerade this morning, then some crystal lite lemonade, now some chicken broth john got from the Chinese food restaurant (yummy!!!). I haven't eaten since yesterday morning, but boy am I ever craving turkey bacon. They called me this morning and told me my appointment is for 9:30 am, so as they said, if everything goes smoothly I should be done by 10:45 and out of the surgery center by 11:30. Hopefully you guys will be getting a happy, but drugged up post from me. If not, you'll be getting a sad drugged up post by me anyway. So far I've watched: they china syndrome, pretty in pink, last episode of Big Love, and now Stand by me. LOL my hubby is even eating before he gets home so he won't tempt me. Makes me think of how I was ever anorexic in my younger years. FOOD IS GOOD. It's actually my facebook status right not: GIMME TURKEY BACON!.


oh well I hope you're all right and at 12pm I'm sitting down to a feast of a good cheesesteak with turkey bacon on it accompanied by a glass of champagne. Hell I haven't eaten "food" in two days, i'm allowed the extra cholesterol!

[RxBrat1979]

>>Is there any medical reasons not to have them done yearly? <<

As a matter of fact, yes. Sometimes. It depends on how high risk you are. For those at very high risk, the risk of cancer may be higher than the risk of complications from the scope itself. In those cases, scopes should be started earlier and done more frequently. When the chance of cancer is low, relative to the chance of complications of the procedure, better to hold off on the scope. MOST CRC is diagnosed in people over 50. Now, that tells me that the polyps were in there up to 10 years earlier. Good argument for screening at 40. 30 for those with family history. A significant minority of cases are diagnosed in people younger than 50. This is important. It's a SIGNIFICANT minority. That's means enough to count. Enough to make a difference. They're saying people should be screened 10 years younger than the age at which their youngest CRC relative was diagnosed. That's when the polyps start forming. Some of them grow faster, but they're rare. People with relatives who were diagnosed in their 20's should be screened in their teens.

I have to put in a word of caution here. Colonoscopy is not a 100% safe procedure. Nothing invasive is 100% safe. Complications are rare, but they can happen. Bowel perforations can happen and can cause very serious problems. I personally had a serious cardiac arrythmia after one of mine. (probably due to dehydration from the prep) My point is stuff happens. It's not a good idea to scope every healthy, asymptomatic, low risk young person in their teens or 20's, as has been suggested in some posts, or to scope too often, unless there's a good reason. We'd be exposing too many people to too much risk when the vast majority of them were at no risk of cancer in the first place. Usually they DO scope yearly for the first couple of years after CRC treatment to be sure there's no local recurrence, but quickly go back to every three to five years as soon as reasonably possible. The take home point here is that there are risks and benefits to scoping and to holding off. They have to be considered in each case. Which is the greater risk for that patient given the particular case history? Every now and then, it's going to come out wrong. What I would love to see is a good, safe, less expensive, non-invasive screening test we COULD use every three to five years on everyone starting at age 20 or so, regardless of family history, and without any argument from insurance companies. THAT will take some research dollars. Anybody got some?

what about the virtual colonoscopy? Or is there a risk of issues from the constant raditaion exposure? This would obviously less invasive, but are virtual ones less accurate?

[mispsp]

2. MyGI specialist is very cute. Young, dark hair blue eyes and he's going to be staring at my ugly overly white butt all while pile driving a tube up my butthole.

LOL

You won't care by the time you get sedated.
My doc wore a fancy suit and has Kenny Rogers hair. I found it interesting that he got so dressed up to do these procedures all day long. But on the other hand I had respect for the dignity it added to the procedure.

Good luck, I'll say some prayers for you!

Misty

[ihavecancer]

>>Is there any medical reasons not to have them done yearly? <<
A significant minority of cases are diagnosed in people younger than 50. This is important. It's a SIGNIFICANT minority.

I wish that were true, but it isn't. Most studies indicate that between 2-15% of colon cancer cases are diagnosed under the age of 40, in random samples. In some instances it can be as high as 20% without risk factors. Colon cancer, like breast cancer, has a propensity for affecting middle aged people. Anyone showing signs of colon cancer such as bleeding and change in bowel habits needs to undergo colonsocopy even if they are in their teens or 20's. The risk of serious complications for the colonoscopy are about 1/5000, but the odds of having cancer given those symptoms are higher.

[RxBrat1979]

2. MyGI specialist is very cute. Young, dark hair blue eyes and he's going to be staring at my ugly overly white butt all while pile driving a tube up my butthole.

LOL

You won't care by the time you get sedated.
My doc wore a fancy suit and has Kenny Rogers hair. I found it interesting that he got so dressed up to do these procedures all day long. But on the other hand I had respect for the dignity it added to the procedure.

Good luck, I'll say some prayers for you!

Misty

He is really cute!!! OMG. I always hear horror stories about people talking while they're under... what if i ask him to have his kids or something? ACK! 21 more hours till poop chute time.

-T