Joined for support

[lizzie41]

I hope I've signed up to Ovacome uneccesarily, but I'm feeling a bit spooked at the moment and just wanted to contact people who've already been there. I have regular colonoscopies, the last two clear, but as I had been having lots of bowel problems I 'phoned my GP to ask her if I should bring the next colonoscopy forward. She asked me to go to surgery, where she examined me and said she could feel something?!? and sent an urgent referral to my local hospital.

Two weeks later I had an appt with a surgical registrar who said it was probably not a bowel problem but a gynae problem. I have an appt on Thursday for a CT scan of abdomen and pelvis with contrast. I am aged 71 and have never had any abnormal bleeding. I used to work for a gynae consultant,and the first thing that came into my mind was OC as from memory other gynae problems, fibroids, ca uterus etc. present with abnormal bleeding. I can actually feel a hard lump at the bottom of my abdomen and I do have lower abdo pain, more after eating. Also my abdo feels heavy - a bit like when pregnant and you feel the need to support the abdo.

The scan will be just 3 weeks from my visit to the GP so I suppose that is quite quick.

I'm not frightened of the treatment, if I do have OC, just the prognosis. Any suggestion of questions I should ask the hospital doctor when I go for the results of the CT scan?

Liz

[wendydee]

Hi Liz1

Not a place we want to be but we are in the right place, if you know what I mean! I won't bore you with all my details but you can click on my picture to hear my story. I had really urgent need to go to the loo after eating too. I was diagnosed with OC. However, I am really well now and my treatment was all OK. The main part is getting an early diagnosis, as I'm sure you will know.

keep busy in the meantime. There are lots of old threads on here, via the search box, about keeping busy, staying positive, etc etc. Just treat yourself well, enjoy a few treats and think positive.

Let us know how it's gong,

Love Wendy xx

[lizzie41]

Thank you for your comments Wendy. It's the unknown that's worrying, I think even if the diagnosis is OC, at least I'll know. I'll be back on here when I get my results.

Liz

[Hidden]

I hope it's the wrong place for you Liz!

Having said that; there can be a silver lining!

GOOD LUCK,

Isadora.

[lizzie41]

Isadora - I hope this is the wrong place for me too, but at least if it isn't I know I'll be able to get lots of help and support on here.

Liz

[Hidden]

Lizzie

Sorry that you are having this worry at the moment.... you have come to the right place.....hope all goes well for you.

Best Wishes x Gwyneth x

[lizzie41]

Thank you Gwyneth.

[MargaretJ]

Hi Liz1,

You are where I was at in Sept 2009. I was fast tracked! Which it sounds as if you are being! I saw a colorectal registrar and had a sigmoidoscopy before a CT scan and referral to the gynae surgeon folowed by a biopsy and drain to relieve the ascites. Things moved quickly and I started chemo in October 2009. If you worked for a gynae you will know a lot of what is coming but the thing I have found most useful is keeping a diary. That way I remember what I want to ask the consultant. Forget statistics! They tell you nothing as an individual and can depress you. As far as I am concerned I am going to be one of the long lasting ones until someolne proves me wrong!

I am 72 next month!

Good luck

Margaret

[lizzie41]

MargaretJ

Thank you for your good wishes. Perhaps having worked for a gynae consultant is more bad than good, in that I definitely know what to expect. As far as I can tell I don't have ascites - well my stomach isn't swollen at all, I can just feel something under the skin that shouldn't be there. Of course, having regular colonoscopies, I thought any problem was going to be colorectal, so I waited a few weeks before going to the GP as I knew the time was not crucial. I hope if my diagnosis is OC, that the few weeks won't make too much difference. It'll be ironic, if having regular colonoscopies because of family history etc, that I end up having an ovarian problem which no-one else in the family has ever had.

I have started a list of questions to ask, so keeping a diary seems a good idea, it's very easy to forget something that at the time you thought important.

Liz

[lizzie41]

Well l had an urgent appt at the hospital 2 weeks after seeing my GP, then an urgent CT scan of abdo and pelvis a week later, and since then nothing. I know it is only just over a week since the scan but I did expect to get a follow up letter by now. I feel perfectly well, my abdo is not swollen and I have no bleeding or any other symptoms. I hope my lack of follow up appt is because my diagnosis is benign. If I don't hear anything by the end of next week I'll call the consultant's secretary to see what's going on.

Liz

[lizzie41]

Well I've received my follow up appt which is not until 14 June and with a different colorectal surgeon. Not sure what that means, in my town there is an excellent colorectal unit which takes patients from all over UK and trains surgeons from around the world in new techniques, so it could be that you just get sent to any of the surgeons. The fact that my follow up appt will be almost 4 weeks after my CT scan, and also I'm going back to the colorectal unit and not gynae, makes me think it can't be Ovarian Ca after all. If that thought is true, then of course I am extremely thankful. However if it is ca colon, it will be a bit ironic as I have been having colonoscopies over the last 10 years and the last 2 were clear so I was put on a 3 yearly follow up. However, it is not yet 2 years since the previous colonoscopy.

Oh well, I'll just have to wait now to see what the diagnosis is. I'll try to speak to my GP after the bank holiday to see if she has any more info than I have.

Best wishes to you all.

Liz41