The Colon Club

I wish the fear of my cancer coming back wasn't always present. I'm having blood in my stool some of the time. I had a fissure on the outside but now it's from the inside. It's not inside. I accidentally missed an appointment with my GI last week. He's completely booked up. I'm unsure when I will be able to get another telephone appointment with him. I'm going to ask for a colonoscopy for piece of mind. He has told me in the past that he would do a colonoscopy if I'm concerned. I usually get a colonoscopy every 2.5 years. I had one last year while I was hospitalized with ischemic colitis. Thanks for me letting me vent about this.

I'm sorry you're having a hard time, and can totally understand how cancer so profoundly affects one's life that it's impossible to fully leave it behind... Getting a colonoscopy is a great idea, and it will hopefully come back clean and put your mind at rest (at least for a while!)

Thank you Claudine! I agree. It may take a while to get a new appointment with my GI since missing his calls last week. I turned off the setting on my phone which made it so my phone didn't ring if a number wasn't on my contact last. He's the only doctor who calls from a private number. It's a private line in his office.

I’m so sorry to hear you’re having a rough time, DE. I’ve gone through something similar recently. Although I’m approaching my five year mark and hoping to get the all clear, I’ve been a bag of nerves due to some new and worrying pain in my tail bone… and of course the doctors want to rule out a local / pelvic recurrence.

My scan came back clear yesterday, but it’s a reminder that we’re never more than a symptom away from being in a very scary place again. Especially if the symptoms are similar to when you were diagnosed, I’m sure it’s a form of PTSD.

If it’s any consolation, I’d think you’re extremely unlikely to have a recurrence at the anastomosis this far out from your original diagnosis, which (in my understanding) is the only type of recurrence that might cause rectal bleeding. And while a new primary is always a possibility (hopefully also remote)… your monitoring should be enough to keep on top of anything before it happens.

How do the doctors treat your ischemic colitis? Seems you’ve had a flare up of that more than once and is the more likely cause of rectal bleeding. Is it considered an after effect of your surgery?

Thank you sandkeeper! I'm glad your scan is clear. This bleeding is some bright red blood on my stool some of the time. I've been dealing with constipation more often lately. I'm going back to Linzess(Constella here) daily instead of every other day to see if it helps. This bleeding isn't like the bleeding I get during an ischemic colitis attack. That bleeding is much worse, I have diarrhea, severe pain, severe nausea(sometimes vomiting), dripping sweat, severe bloating. I can become dehydrate. My GI put me on a daily low dose coated aspirin in 2018 to try to prevent an ischemic colitis attack. Unfortunately, that didn't help. I only go to the hospital for an ischemic colitis attack if I have a lot of bleeding and become severely dehydrated. I stay at home when the bleeding isn't severe or isn't present and when I don't get dehydrated. At the hospital they just give me a lot of fluids, pain relief, and I go back to a liquid diet slowly building up to a low fiber diet. I get an abdominal CT, CRP blood tests, and a colonoscopy. I haven't found any way to prevent ischemic colitis. attacks. There is no medication for it. I agree that it's unlikely a recurrence in the original anastomosis site. I had my last yearly CT in 2019. I no longer get tumor marker blood tests. I get a colonoscopy every 2.5 years. I can have one sooner if I'm concerned.