Still possibly colon cancer?? Help me please

[Skdj]

(23 yr old) in February I was about 7 months pregnant and noticed blood in my stool off and on. After a week or two I noticed once or twice a black chunk in my stool (not the whole thing just a part) also there were at times black specks that MIGHT have been food related. I freaked out and managed to get to a specialist. He preformed a flexible sigmoidoscopy instead of colonoscopy since I was pregnant. He found a hemorrhoid but no explanation for the black part in stool. He said to call back if symptoms stay the same after pregnancy. So far I haven’t noticed more blood but the black parts still have me freaked out. Should I still request a colonoscopy after I give birth at the end of the month?? Please help me decide.

[Ljlyt]

Yes you should do it anyway

[Juppy]

Yes absolutely. The colonoscopy will tell you clearly if you have a problem or not. If you have pre-cancerous polyps they can be removed.

[Skdj in reply to Juppy]

Do you think the risk of a colonoscopy is worth it? I’m worried something bad will happen

[Skdj in reply to Juppy]

I’m worried that something bad will happen during the colonoscopy procedure

[bantam12 in reply to Skdj]

What do you think will happen ? the person on the other end of the scope is usually a surgeon or Gastro consultant and they know what they are doing. I've had many of these done and never had any problems.

[Skdj in reply to bantam12]

I guess I’m worried about internal bleeding or death. I know it’s rare but can happen. I just am tired of not knowing. When I saw him for the sigmoidoscopy he didn’t seem worried about colon cancer at all but I’m wondering if I should do colonoscopy just for piece of mind. Even though at 23 it’s not common to get the procedure done.

[bantam12 in reply to Skdj]

That's a bit dramatic, plenty of people with known IBDs and chronic inflammation and bleeding go through colonoscopies with no problems at all. My last one showed extensive ulceration and bleeding on contact but I had no problem at all with the procedure.People of all ages have it done, you will only carry on worrying if you don't do it !

[Skdj in reply to bantam12]

Was your colonoscopy prep hard on your body? I’m due for a baby in less than two weeks and want to do the colonoscopy ASAP to get this chapter behind me but I don’t know how soon they’ll schedule me or if my body needs to heal. I’m hoping a colonoscopy is easy to do

[bantam12 in reply to Skdj]

I had to wait 12 weeks for a colonoscopy after my last baby was born, they didn't want to do it before then. The prep isn't pleasant and you will be stuck in the loo for many hours so you wouldn't want to do it with a tiny baby to care for at the same time ! You will need a few days after to fully recover so definitely sort some help out. Once the prep is done the procedure isn't to bad, you can have sedation and pain relief to make it more tolerable but it doesn't usually take to long so soon over.

[Skdj in reply to bantam12]

Wow that’s a long time! Hopefully I wouldn’t have to wait that long. I started having symptoms March and had the sigmoidoscopy in April now I’m due next week and hoping to call the office end of June to set something up. Can I ask what symptoms you had to prompt a colonoscopy? Did they start during pregnancy as well?

[bantam12 in reply to Skdj]

I already had a diagnosis but new consultant wanted another colonoscopy to confirm ulcerative colitis. Pregnancy had made symptoms worse so it was good to get that out the way and start on meds.

[Juppy]

I think you’ll probably need to wait to have it, but yes I would definitely do it. The colonoscopy is the only way to find out what’s going on. The prep is pretty awful but definitely worth doing.

[Skdj in reply to Juppy]

Why do you think I’ll need to wait? I hope I don’t the stress is killing me it’s horrible

[Juppy in reply to Skdj]

Oh, sorry, I don’t really know. I assumed they wouldn’t be able to do it until after you have the baby and recover some from that, but I really don’t know. I hope you get some peace of mind soon xox