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Good thing issues are slow growing. I think if you have had a colonscopy in the last 10 years, with no issues...there is no rush.
So we always assumed. I learned through sad experience this isn't always the case. I had a colonoscopy that was clear, no issues, in 2018. The doc told me to come back in 10 years ( I had no plans to do so, as at age 80 in 10 yrs I would have aged out of screening colonoscopies.
Fast forward to June 2022, another colonoscopy, done to find the source of GI bleeding that was making me seriously anemic, found a large cancerous mass in my transverse colon. No one expected this. I will never know if this was a polyp or blip missed in 2018, or it grew rapidly enough from scratch in the 4 yrs since the last colonoscopy to be that big when they found it.
So we always assumed. I learned through sad experience this isn't always the case. I had a colonoscopy that was clear, no issues, in 2018. The doc told me to come back in 10 years ( I had no plans to do so, as at age 80 in 10 yrs I would have aged out of screening colonoscopies.
Fast forward to June 2022, another colonoscopy, done to find the source of GI bleeding that was making me seriously anemic, found a large cancerous mass in my transverse colon. No one expected this. I will never know if this was a polyp or blip missed in 2018, or it grew rapidly enough from scratch in the 4 yrs since the last colonoscopy to be that big when they found it.
Wow....sorry to hear that. Hope you are doing ok. It goes to show us all, get these screenings done, do not put them off.
Wow....sorry to hear that. Hope you are doing ok. It goes to show us all, get these screenings done, do not put them off.
Thanks. Though in my case this last colonoscopy wasn't for screening, but to find a source of the GI bleeding. I guess in my case the lessons might be 1) to not ignore symptoms, though mine were fairly mild and not very specific, 2) to not put off recommended medical checkups. My PCP has always insisted I come back for a followup for the annual physical six months later. I always did it though I wondered if I really needed to do so, as we'd sometimes find an issue creeping up on me in those every six month checks. That six month checkup last year was the only way we were able to detect the significant drop in hemoglobin I had since the previous checkup- we had no idea anything was amiss there till we saw that. The investigation for that is what led to the cancer diagnosis. I won't complain about those biannual visits anymore.
I think the #3 lesson would be to not assume that a clear colonoscopy always guarantees no issues with cancer for the next 10 years. Hence it's back to #1, don't ignore symptoms or incidental findings.
I'm doing fine, The cancer was determined to be stage IIA colon cancer, with a mutation type for which chemotherapy is not indicated in this stage. And circulating residual cancer DNA testing showed no residual cancer DNA found. They got it all with the surgery. I'm coming up on the 1st year anniversary of the diagnosis, with upcoming scans and another colonoscopy. Not looking forward to it, but I think it's a small price to pay.
Something to remember is that the general guidelines are for those who are average risk.
The colorectal cancer risk factors are:
1. Being overweight or obese
2. Not being physically active
3. Certain types of diets (diets high in red meats or processed meats, cooking meats at very high temps, having low blood level Vitamin D, not following a rounded diet that includes fruits & veggies and whole grains, etc.)
4. Smoking
5. Alcohol use at moderate to heavy level
6. Being over age 50
7. A personal history of colorectal polyps or colorectal cancer
8. A personal history of inflammatory bowel disease
9. A family history of colorectal cancer or adenomatous polyps
10. Having an inherited syndrome
11. Lynch syndrome
12. Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)
13. Rare inherited syndromes linked to colorectal cancer
14. Your racial and ethnic background (American Indian and Alaska Native people have the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the US, followed by African American men and women, and Jews of Eastern European descent (Ashkenazi Jews) have one of the highest colorectal cancer risks of any ethnic group in the world)
15. Having type 2 diabetes
The 10 year wait probably wouldn't be advisable for someone with some of these factors, or maybe even one of them, if that one is important enough.
Submitted a request & paperwork in February, waited 10 days for them to call me to schedule. Appt scheduled for mid-July.
Routine screening in Charlottesville VA.
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