Dear Reader, I have been lurking on this site for 2 months now. It’s frustrating to see people that have the same symptoms as me but never post and tell what happened to them in the end. This is my journey from start to finish.
3 months ago I had stomach issues. I though I had a touch of food poisoning. After 3 days of having stomach issues I took pepto Bismal. The pepto turned my stool black. This was very concerning my anxiety was through the roof. After researching I found out pepto will do that. So after checking my stool for days it started to change back to normal. Well I came home from work and thought let me push out a bowel movement if it’s good I can relax and rest well. So I sat on the toilet and pushed hard to have a bowel movement. When I did I noticed my stool was normal brown however there was bright red blood on the outside of my stool. The next morning I continued to have bright red blood so I went to the doctor. We talked and he sent me to a GI doctor for a colonoscopy but he thought it was hemorrhoids. Since I had a history of them. I’m 46 now but had a colonoscopy at 33 for hemorrhoids and everything was clear at 33. The bleeding stopped for about 6 weeks after I started using fiber and ointments. I thought I was ok but would still get the colonoscopy just to be sure. After 6 weeks the bleeding resurfaced. Maybe 1-2 times a week. It was very concerning and my anxiety was through the roof. My bleeding would be on the outside of the stool and would be a bright red or maroon. It was a small amount of blood. I was totally convinced I had a hemorrhoid, or fissure or some kind of UC and maybe Colon cancer. I’m a single father of two teenagers and my wife died last year from breast cancer so I was so scared I had terminal colon cancer. During this time I had bleeding a dull pain in my tailbone a very itchy and burning rectum All signs pointing to hemorrhoids or a fissure
So today I went in for my colonoscopy. I met with the Dr and he said why are you here again? I told him my story and he said sounds like hemorrhoids but we’ll find out. I go back and the next thing I remember I woke up to the Dr telling me everything is done. He stated that I had a moderate size polyp in my lower colon just above the rectum and he removed it. Everything else looked good. He said no hemorrhoids or inflammation. I asked him what was causing the bleeding? He said the polyp was the cause of the bleeding. He saw that the polyp was bleeding and removed it. He told me he was very confident that it was NOT cancer AND I was lucky. Most polyp’s do not bleed but I was lucky mine did. If I would have waited till I was 50 there would of been a good chance it could of became cancerous by then. So by the Grace of God my bleeding was a blessing. Without it I would of never went to get checked. One thing I’ve learned is always always always seek medical attention for any kind of bleeding. The majority of the time it is not cancer and something else. I hate doctors and test but boy am I glad I went through all this.
In closing, always go and get checked for any type of bleeding and make sure you push for a colonoscopy at the age of 45. I’m proof that the 45 age is the correct age.
For anyone reading this thank you for your time and hope that you get some comfort from my story.
God Bless!