Obviously, I don't know your specific circumstances, but at your age, cancer would be unlikely. I am ten years older than you and had some symptoms over the summer - mainly rectal bleeding, admittedly just on the paper - and the specialist told me that if my mother came in with the same symptoms, he would be concerned about cancer, but at my age, it was possible but highly unlikely and I would have to be very unlucky for that to end up being the solution, that the most likely explanation was piles with IBD also a possibility.

They did a colonoscopy and found piles. I will add that my GP found nothing suggestive of that either and a nurse said this was quite common, that if the piles are internal, they often wouldn't be picked up in a general examination.

There are lots of things that can cause blood in stools - IBD, polyps, fissures, piles, certain infections...

One good thing is that you have gotten an appointment so quickly. I know that is scary, but it does mean that you will know pretty quickly what is wrong and if it is something minor, you'll get reassurance and if it is something serious, they will treat it pretty quickly. I am in Ireland and with the cyberattack, I ended up waiting from early June to mid-August to get an appointment.