Any advice or help please

[Art600]

hello,

My mum did a bowel screening test in January and her result came back positive, she then had a colonoscopy on the 14th February where they diagnosed her with bowel cancer.

They found a malignant stenosing colonic tumour and 5mm polyp. The polyp was removed and not cancerous. They were not able to see the full bowel/colon as the tumour was obstructing the camera.

She has been booked for a CT scan on 8th March.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago and had a breast removed and has been on letrizole and had no issues since she had chemo and radio for the breast cancer so we do not believe it is related but have not had confirmation yet as she has not been assigned an oncology team as it is pending currently until they know more from the CT scan.

she did a bowler cancer screening fit test in September as she lived in a different country and that came back as negative. But we have since found out the September test was - 64 mcgHb/g faeces. And England do not advise you to get checked - Within the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England we refer people for further investigations with a result of 120 micrograms of human haemoglobin (blood) per gram of faeces (poo) (μgHb/g faeces) or more to discuss having a colonoscopy.

She has moved to Scotland and In the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme’s cut-off for referral is 80 μgHb/g faeces. we are currently waiting to find out the exact result of her test in January but it was positive.

She has said since she received her letter to say it was positive that she has had changed in bowel habits and that it can come out in clumps rather than just one poo. She also recently is getting pain on her right side abdomen but this does ease. She has not lost any weight and is otherwise ok.

We have tried to get an earlier CT scan but had no luck and currently just waiting. what is the likeliness of spreading? And if my information is of any use to give advice?

We have also looked into gene mutations as we were told when she had breast cancer we carry BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations.

Any thoughts on what I have said would help please just trying to stay positive.

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator]

Hi Art600,

Thank you for posting on Colon Cancer Connected. I'm so sorry to hear about your mum. She has been through a lot and to say that, your family has been through a lot as well. You have expressed very well what is going on here. You are doing a lot of really good things as well. I hate to see that you have to wait so long to get that CT scan. The CT scan is one way to look to see if the cancer has metastasized to any other part of the body. I do not know the likelihood of the cancer spreading. But I think you know that this is something that is still on the table until we can eliminate it. CT scan can help do that.

With your mom's breast cancer diagnosis five years ago, one question I would have is what surveillance procedures did your mom have to go through because of that diagnosis? I also see your mum had genetic testing which provided the susceptibility to the BRCA1 & BRCA2 mutations. These mutations can be inherited (germline) and as your mom's daughter you should get tested as well.

I must say that I am very surprised that your CT scan isn't scheduled until March 8th. Not only did her colonoscopy show blockage, but the experience of abdominal pain should also have escalated this to getting the CT scan very soon.

I want to share this with you to show you that you are definitely not alone. I've had a similar experience as my first colonoscopy was obstructed by the tumor in my colon. My tumor had perforated the outer layer of the colon and it did metastasize to another part of my body. I experienced lower abdominal pain on my right side. Expressed this to my doctor and he said let's get this checked out. In two days, I had a CT scan and the day after that I was standing in front of a surgeon. I had my first colonoscopy the next day. And very soon after that I had partial colectomy surgery to remove the ascending colon and half of the traverse colon. I share this to show I agree with you that it is urgent to get this done. I hate to see that you are having to wait on getting the CT scan earlier. That is frustrating.

I believe you are doing everything you can be doing. I hate to see that the NHS is slowing your efforts down. The sooner you get the CT scan the sooner they can get the surgery to remove the tumor.

Your mom sounds like she's a very strong woman and I can see that in you as well. I agree with you that it is frustrating to have to wait for these procedures to happen. I hope that they can eventually move the date up for the CT scan.

We do wish you the very best in getting your mum on the path to being well. I know she is going to be in for some surgery and will not only need her strength but also your strength to get through it. I hope and pray that the CT scan shows it has not metastasized to other parts of the body. I would not be surprised if she is in for some chemo as a precautionary measure. I also hope you are confident in your medical team and the information they provide.

Please keep us up to speed about the information obtained from the CT scan. It is this type of information that can be helpful to others on this site.

Sending positive vibz your way so mum can get through this and move on to being healthy and well.

Thank you,

~Tom, GCCA Survivor - Colon Cancer Connected Site Administrator.

Just a reminder - this group is here to offer support, share experiences, and offer our thoughts - but this is not medical advice, and you should always consult your medical professional(s). Additionally, for all emergencies, seek urgent medical care, never delay.

[Art600 in reply to GCCA-Survivor]

hello Tom,

Thank you so much for your comforting and kind response. It made my mum and I feel really supported.

My mum had her CT scan this morning and we are now awaiting the results of this to hopefully tell us what is going on. Mum is feeling very scared and worried.

My mum also got her fit test result back from January which stated the value was 506.10ugHb/g so it went up from Septembers 64 mcgHB/g. (Not entirely sure what it all means) we imagine something has caused more bleeding, but we can assume as it could have been from the polyp they removed. My mum has requested to speak to the scientists who do the bowel screening checks to see if they can maybe tell her more.

We are not sure how long it will take to get results. We have been told the doctors discuss patients on a Friday so hopefully we will get an appointment booked in for next week. I am going to call up Friday afternoon though and see if there is anything they can tell us over the phone.

Thank you again for your lovely message and it is wonderful of you to create this for people who are going through colon cancer as a strong survivor 👍

Thank you