Hello officeworker2801, 

I am sorry to hear about all the stress this is inevitably causing you at the moment and that your latest blood results flagged that you were anaemic. It sounds like you have a very thorough GP which is a great thing and although it may have been a bit disturbing to find out that your FIT came back positive, the colonoscopy will be the most accurate way to rule out cancer and other possible bowel conditions.

I hope that your phone appointment on Wednesday goes well. I can imagine it was a little bit scary to read the details of the 2 week urgent referral but the colonoscopy will be the only way to find out more and at the moment it is best not to anticipate what it might be as you simply won't know until you get your results. It's good that they are investigating this properly though - do mention if you get a chance that you experienced some bleeding in November and if you haven't done so already do talk about the nausea you've been experiencing even if it's something you've had for years just in case it is relevant (tell them you've had it for years though). Don't worry too much about the rectal exam - it may sound rather unpleasant but it is an important test that sometimes needs to be done and your doctor will be used to doing this routinely. 

All you can do for now really is wait which is the hardest thing sometimes. The best thing to do to avoid thinking too much about this is to keep busy and distracted if you can and avoid looking things up online. I can imagine it is hard for you to do this at the moment but it will help you feel a little less anxious. 

I hope you will also hear from others here who have been through all this before and that they will be along soon to share their story with you. 

Keeping everything crossed for you that everything turns out fine. 

Best wishes, 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Thank you Lucie for your reply.

I'm adding a follow up here in case anyone else is in a similar position now or in the future.

I had a telephone triage call with a specialist nurse who asked me if I'd noticed any changes in my bowel habits or any other symptoms as well as asking if I have any family history of cancer or inflammatory bowel disease. Based on what I said, they told me I had a low risk of cancer and that they recommended I undergo a colonoscopy and gastroscopy to rule it out (and allow them to take biopsies and conduct some treatment in case they found anything). They walked me through the procedures, and said alternatively I could have some scans (e.g. CT) but the scopes were the best way of getting to the bottom of this and most effective way of ruling out anything nasty, and sedation would be available. I'd done my own research into the alternatives and a lot of the scan options involve enemas and or laxities so I decided I'd rather get it done and over with and go for the scopes.

Then I had a call from the booking team who booked me in for both procedures on the same day, within two weeks. 

The period between the booking and the procedure was a bit weird but I found researching the procedure (e.g. looking at Bowel Cancer UK's website and the NHS website) helped me calm my nerves a bit.

I had the gastroscopy and colonoscopy yesterday and on the whole they were relatively painless procedures and the endoscopist was lovely. I had IV sedation plus painkillers as well local anaesthetic throat spray for the gastroscopy. They also offered me entonox (gas and air) but I declined. The gastroscopy was really quick and the whole thing (for both procedures) took about 45 minutes. For anyone else nervous about having a colonoscopy I recommend having a look at Bowel Cancer UK's colonoscopy confidence campaign: www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/.../

Honestly, the prep was more unpleasant than the procedure itself. I followed the instructions to the letter as I didn't want to have to come back for a repeat procedure.

They gave me the initial results then and there. The good news is the scopes showed I don't have cancer. They found one benign polyp which they removed and lots of inflammation, so they think I have Crohn's disease. They took a lot of biopsies which have been sent to histology to confirm and terming what "grade" of Crohn's I have, and they will contact me when the results are back to talk about treatment.

Although I freaked out quite a lot initially ("cancer" and "colonoscopy" are two words no one ever wants to hear), I actually feel very grateful that my GP picked it up and referred me because it meant far less waiting around than I would have had otherwise, and I'd probably still be none the wiser if they hadn't told me to do a FIT.

I'm also glad they did both at once as it's great to have got it all out of the way and it's so nice to be able to eat fibre again!

TLDR: If your health care professional recommends a gastroscopy or colonoscopy, it's worth biting the bullet to get anything nasty ruled out or caught early. It might not be cancer, but if it is, you want to catch it early. It's been a stressful month but worth it in the long run.