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Told my doc that I had on-going diarrhea. Having had some polyps removed on a previous colonoscopy, he sent me for a repeat scope. Came back negative. In six months, I was dragging around, short of breath, and hardly able to function at the lowest level. (I did, however, push myself to do Christmas for the family as I always do - food, tree, cookies, presents etc.) The week after Christmas, I was so bad that I went to the lab for blood work and a stool culture. That afternoon, I was admitted to the ER and after cursory exam, admitted upstairs. I awoke in the morning with blood transfusing into my arm. (Did you know that blood has to be kept refrigerated so that when it's tranfusing, it's so cold it actually hurts?) That day and the next, I was prepped for a repeat colonoscopy and it revealed a big azz tumor in my ascending colon. Surgery removed the offender and a third of my colon. The margins showed no infiltration through the bowel wall and it was decided that I would have a prophylactic course of chemo. Three and a half years out and I'm still clean. At least according to the CT scan I have every year.
Last edited by theatergypsy; 05-23-2012 at 02:21 PM..
It looks like most of the posters are ladies. I have to chime in as a guy. If my doctor had not been very observant on my PSA scores, things could have gone very different for me. The doc noticed my PSA jumped 4 points from the year before. He asked me to do another in three months, it had jumped another 2 points in that amount of time. He sent me for the biopsy. It was found that 7 of the 12 cores had the most aggressive form of prostate cancer. CAT and MRI's indicated that the cancer had not grown outside of the gland capsules. That and my age made me prime for focused bean radiation and not surgery. Got it done, all is well. (knock wood)
What is chaffing me is how the medical industry is starting to minimize tests for cancer in middle aged or young people. Damn, when I was getting radiation there was a 24 year old kid with Stage III prostate cancer at the clinic with me. The medical bureaucrats coming out and saying PSA, breast X-rays and other tests are not necessary is shear bull. Oops this is heading somewhere off where we don't want to go. I will stop my rant.
It looks like most of the posters are ladies. I have to chime in as a guy. If my doctor had not been very observant on my PSA scores, things could have gone very different for me. The doc noticed my PSA jumped 4 points from the year before. He asked me to do another in three months, it had jumped another 2 points in that amount of time. He sent me for the biopsy. It was found that 7 of the 12 cores had the most aggressive form of prostate cancer. CAT and MRI's indicated that the cancer had not grown outside of the gland capsules. That and my age made me prime for focused bean radiation and not surgery. Got it done, all is well. (knock wood)
What is chaffing me is how the medical industry is starting to minimize tests for cancer in middle aged or young people. Damn, when I was getting radiation there was a 24 year old kid with Stage III prostate cancer at the clinic with me. The medical bureaucrats coming out and saying PSA, breast X-rays and other tests are not necessary is shear bull. Oops this is heading somewhere off where we don't want to go. I will stop my rant.
You're certainly entitled to rant. We are all encouraged to pay attention to our bodies, to have annual check-ups, to be proactive, to be tested so that we can have an early diagnosis in the case of any problem. And now we don't have to do that? Who says? Insurance companies, that's who. I have two granddaughters with a strong family history of breast cancer - maternal grandmother and maternal aunt, both deceased from the Ca. - but their insurance companies won't pay for mammograms at age 30. (One is 30 and the other is 28)
PSA is being discouraged because the results often give a false positive. Which then requires more testing, which is more expensive than the blood test which gave the false positive.
Somebody is playing with lives. And the poor souls who have HMO's are in even worse shape. They have to get permission for everything and often it isn't approved. Reminds me of Scrooge's line in A Christmas Carol -
"...if they would die, let them do so and decrease the surplus population".
Thanks for sharing, Shadow. How long since your diagnosis?
My annual Pap test had some unusual cells. My doc sent the slide out again to someone else, who suggested the cells might indicate a malignancy. D&C showed normal. Still not satisfied, my doc consulted other MD's , the consensus was to do a complete hysterectomy/salpingo/oophorectomy. My doc freaked when he went in, the uterus was "fixed"--had to call in an assisting surgeon---2 tumors on the bowel, multiple tumors in the omentum, and innumerable tumors, like speckles, covering the peritoneum. Microscopic exam post-op revealed it was ovarian cancer, stage 3b. 6 monthes (18 treatments) of chemo and I'm still here, 7 1/2 years later. Thank goodness my doc didn't say,"Come back for a repeat in 6 monthes", or "You're post-menopausal, you don't NEED an anual pap."(which is what some insurance companies are pushing) I was 53 when I was diagnosed, with no family history. Just to add a bit, genetic testing was done--my younger sister and I have a genetic mutation which dramatically increases our risk for several kinds of cancers. So colonoscopy/endoscopy every 1-2 years. Urology exam every year. But I'm glad to be alive!!!
My annual Pap test had some unusual cells. My doc sent the slide out again to someone else, who suggested the cells might indicate a malignancy. D&C showed normal. Still not satisfied, my doc consulted other MD's , the consensus was to do a complete hysterectomy/salpingo/oophorectomy. My doc freaked when he went in, the uterus was "fixed"--had to call in an assisting surgeon---2 tumors on the bowel, multiple tumors in the omentum, and innumerable tumors, like speckles, covering the peritoneum. Microscopic exam post-op revealed it was ovarian cancer, stage 3b. 6 monthes (18 treatments) of chemo and I'm still here, 7 1/2 years later. Thank goodness my doc didn't say,"Come back for a repeat in 6 monthes", or "You're post-menopausal, you don't NEED an anual pap."(which is what some insurance companies are pushing) I was 53 when I was diagnosed, with no family history. Just to add a bit, genetic testing was done--my younger sister and I have a genetic mutation which dramatically increases our risk for several kinds of cancers. So colonoscopy/endoscopy every 1-2 years. Urology exam every year. But I'm glad to be alive!!!
boy, it is hard to know when testing should be done and when there just isn't enough reason for it. I know, most doctors are saying there does reach a time when pap smears really do not need to be done, but you have proven there may be reasons for testing every women, for years. I don't think any of us have the answers to this. Which path to take has to be decided individually and with the help of a doctor. I am glad your doctor followed up and you are alive and well.
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