colon cancer/scalp cancer link?

[W0ND3R1NG]

I read via google that colon cancer sometimes spreads to the scalp. Has anyone heard of or can confirm this? Reason I ask, I am awaiting scheduling for my colonoscopy (I'm in the USA, minimum 4-6 weeks wait to book an appointment). I am also having sores on my scalp and a potential enlarged lymph node about 4 fingers away from my left ear (again, making assumptions from viewing google photos).

Bit of background, my main GI symptoms are weight loss (40+ pounds) and abnormal-looking bowel movements. I've been diagnosed with having gallstones, which from google shows as a symptom of rapid weight loss, not a cause. It is likely the cause of my bowel movements being the color that they are and I accept that part. It's the part where food is coming out looking likely it's barely been chewed much less digested that is my main concern. I could attach photos but I don't actually have photos of the really scary ones that came out looking like a string of pearls.

I'm also having "hot flushes" which they try to tell me is because I'm a woman in my 50s but I'm reading it's also a sign of potential carcinoid tumors. The heat turns up soon after eating a meal, as well as waking me up in the middle of the night/early morning.

My abdominal CTs have not showed any masses. I'm having a chest/throat CT tomorrow to check for masses since I have had GERD my whole life and also fear esophagus cancer. Insurance refuses to pay for the chest/throat CT so I'm paying the $500 or so out of pocket for either peace of mind and/or to accelerate the diagnosis process, depending on if they see anything. The CT is "without contrasting" so who knows.

Yes I know, I've done an excessive amount of googling, which is discouraged. But the doctors I've talked to do not seem to put two and two together and haven't heard of (or admit to hearing about) a link between colon and scalp cancer.

Yes I have a skin cancer screening appointment in the works as well. Just waiting on a call back to get that booked. So just twiddling my thumbs waiting on appointments and idly asking the internet for advice while waiting.

Thanks in advance.

[aysedeniz]

2 years after my surgery I had zona on my head very close to my left eye. I went to a doctor and get therapy. My neighbour had zona on his back. She is alive since 2003.. then I concluded that some disorders might happen to us and we should never be discouraged. It is perhaps a simple zona that you can overcome like me. Good luck.

[W0ND3R1NG in reply to aysedeniz]

I had to look up "zona" but it did trigger me to get a Shingles/Zoster vaccine which I was due for anyway so thank you for the response.

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator]

Hi W0ND3R1NG

Thank you for posting with us. You bring up an interesting point that I’ve never seen. There looks to be a small percentage of possibility that colon cancer might spread to the scalp area.🤔 Although by far the majority of cancers on the scalp are related to skin cancer, it still is a small possibility that the colon cancer could metastasize there. One question I would have is there any hereditary medical situations in your family? Is there a history in your family of what you’re referring to? All that would be good information for your doctor to know.

Are you dealing with cancer that is on your scalp? Have you had it tested and it’s not skin cancer? In my personal situation, I have dealt with all three skin cancer types. Squamous cell, melanoma, and basil cell have all been something that I’ve had to deal with in the past. I do get screened twice a year by my dermatologist just to stay ahead of things. I also have annual ct scans, colonoscopy, and blood work as a part of my surveillance for my past colon cancer. Colon cancer does run in my family so we have to keep a close eye on anything that may be developing so we catch it early.

I see you have had some CT scans and they are giving you some good information. I hate that you have to pay for that out of pocket, but there is some good as you are getting the information you’re looking for. I guess this is the price of “peace of mind”.

You do bring up a good point about the symptoms associated with colon cancer can also be the symptoms of other diseases which is the big reason you have to get them checked out. As far as your Googling is concerned, I think we all do it. I know at one point in my clinical trial my doctors told me to “stop Googling stuff” and I just laughed and said ok.

I do wish you the best in the tests you have that are coming up for you. I know scheduling the colonoscopy can be several months out. 4 - 6 weeks is probably a normal waiting time. Sometimes I get lucky and it’s about three weeks out. I hope scheduling the dermatologist is much shorter. I have my colonoscopy this Thursday. I am looking forward to a nice propofol nap.

Thank you,

[W0ND3R1NG in reply to GCCA-Survivor]

No family history to speak of. My maternal grandmother may have had colon cancer while in the nursing home following a stroke, but she had surgery for it and ultimately died of something unrelated: pneumonia. Maternal grandfather lung cancer when my mom was 3. He was a smoker I am not. Other grandparents and father heart attack. Mom is still alive.

Chest (thorax) CT showed nodules on the thyroid and calcification on right lung. Followup thyroid ultrasound this week. Skin cancer screening also this week which I expect a referral to a dermatologist. GI consult tomorrow.

The good news is that my weight loss seems to have slowed or hit a plateau. The main thing I've changed is I cut out gluten. Honestly I didn't think I'd survive to this initial GI consult with losing 3-5 pounds a week there for a while.

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator in reply to W0ND3R1NG]

I wish you the best with your GI consult tomorrow. Just make sure you have things written down so you cover all the topics that you want to. I know sometimes there's a lot said and you go home and realize that you didn't ask a certain question. With your family history of cancer, you may want to ask about getting genetic testing to see if there is something hereditary going on.

Please let us know how the GI visit goes.👍❤️

[W0ND3R1NG in reply to GCCA-Survivor]

The GI consult yesterday went fine, they actually had a cancellation for the following day (today) to do the colonoscopy and endoscopy. So I am leaving for that appointment in about half an hour. Worried of course but glad it got scheduled so quickly so I can get some answers. I will say that the doctor said that my CT scans (that show no masses) is "very re-assuring" and that he thinks (in his educated(?) opinion) that the 40+ pounds of weight loss can be explained simply by "you have acid issues" (my GERD he's referring to). I highly doubt that personally, how can heartburn essentially cause that type of weight loss??? He did say that since the CTs "didn't find a mass" that it's unlikely that there's a tumor big enough to be drawing away that type of energy. I asked him about carcinoid tumors and he said he's only seen one instance of that in all his years as a GI doctor. That doesn't reassure me either. Sorry to babble on and on. I just don't have a huge amount of confidence that the GI field has deep experience in diagnosing things. I have seen this doctor previously for my 1st endoscopy in 2014 and he's in my insurance plan which is why I went with him for this one. I don't mistrust him, I just feel like it's another example of doctors telling me everything's fine when it's clearly not! So frustrating.

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator in reply to W0ND3R1NG]

I think you're doing a great job. You have to gain trust in your doctors and that comes over time and results. I know during my cancer fight I had good doctors. I did doubt them but after a second and third opinion I found that I was absolutely on the best path I could be on. The more I look out into the healthcare world I find that a lot of patients do not have good doctors. I see second and third opinions absolutely changing the path somebody may have been on and it becomes very beneficial and positive.

After my partial colectomy surgery I spent eight days in the hospital. I lost 44 lbs. and that was absolutely being on a liquid diet with minimal calories. In your case losing 40 pounds and the reason is somehow heartburn looks to be a very odd diagnosis.

They do have tests now that can detect if you have any cancer in your body at all. Cancer cells tend to divide rapidly and they also create dead cancer cells that get pushed into the bloodstream as a part of the disposal of them. Grail and Galleri are multicancer tests that detect the dead cells in the bloodstream and can actually tell what type of cancer it is and where the cancer came from in the body. It's great for early detection, but the problem is you have to have cancer and goal is to prevent cancer. But early detection can be extremely beneficial as opposed to a late stage fight that may happen.

Good luck with your upcoming procedures. I have my colonoscopy tomorrow.😲

[W0ND3R1NG in reply to GCCA-Survivor]

Good luck with your colonoscopy! I survived my first one today (also did the endoscopy). Well. The esophagus was pretty gnarly and they took a biopsy but I ended up with a prescription (for pantoprazole, at bedtime) that's essentially supposed to heal my esophagus in 3 months, assuming they don't find cancer. Can it really be that easy? Is that the cause of the crazy weight loss? I have doubts, but looking at the picture it is pretty bad, and I have gastritis as well which they also biopsied. They don't mention Barrett's Esophagus which is a real risk for esophagus cancer. So maybe that's all there is to it (fingers crossed). I also have a prescription for famotidine now, before breakfast.

What really ticks me off was the ER doctor late August when I went in for dry heaves, stomach/chest pain, and constipation, thinking my colon was blocked and I was going to die, actually put in the ER notes "gastritis, probably due to a night of binge drinking". WTF? I hadn't had a drink of anything in at least 2 weeks prior to that (or since, really). Grr. The most recent ER visit a couple weeks ago where they said I had "extensive" gallstones on one hand, they also put down "hypochondria" as a possible diagnosis. Lovely.

On the colonoscopy side, they found two 4mm polyps and removed them for biopsy. The GI doc doesn't think they are cancerous. That's all there was to it. With just 24 hours' notice the prep was pretty bad and I had to call the on-call GI doc overnight concerned that nothing was coming out after the first round, so they had me immediately do the second round before bed also, then buy more Miralax in case I needed a third round overnight. Needless to say, the 2 rounds before bed did the trick; I went through several pairs of underwear overnight and just made it into the procedure clear enough to move forward. Whew.

Back to the original topic of this thread, I had to cancel today's skin cancer screen due to the unexpected colonoscopy and probably not being safe to drive myself to that appointment afterwards. So I'll try to reschedule that for next week.

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator in reply to W0ND3R1NG]

Omg😳 I’m exhausted hearing all you’re dealing with. I have some comments, but let me get through my colonoscopy tomorrow. My 2nd round will be at 4:30 am. It’s 11:00 pm now. It’s such a hassle, but a necessary one😬

[W0ND3R1NG in reply to GCCA-Survivor]

Hope your colonoscopy went well. I got the verbal results of mine (biopsies negative for cancer). I have the prescription for acid reducers for the esophagutis so I guess for them it's case closed on why the extreme weight loss. On unrelated topic I had the CT scan for trouble swallowing and had follow up ultrasound which recommends needle aspiration of larger nodules so have that scheduled for Oct 17. So following up on the thyroid cancer topics now I guess. So frustrating having to go a different specialist route potentially. The needle aspiration is done by "interventional Radiology" in case anyone is wondering. Wrapping up this thread I guess. Thanks.

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator in reply to W0ND3R1NG]

My colonoscopy went well. No polyps were found this time so nothing needed to be removed. A few internal hemorrhoids which I hope increasing fiber content will help with. So, I now have my 2nd dermatology cancer screening late October and then it's on to my CT scan in mid November and that should complete my 2023 cancer screenings.😁👍

And please let us know what the results of your CT scan is. Everyone likes to see results.

[W0ND3R1NG in reply to GCCA-Survivor]

The CT scan found thyroid nodules, I had a follow up ultrasound to I guess see if the nodules are "suspicious", which are recommended for needle biopsies, I have that needle biopsy scheduled for Oct 17. That's all I have for now.